Useful Knowledge: Volume 3. Animals / Or, a familiar account of the various productions of nature

CLASS V. INSECTS.

256. The SPANISH FLY, or BLISTERING LYTTA (Lytta vesicatoria), is a coleopterous insect (12), about an inch in length, of shining blue-green colour with black antennÆ.

It is found in most parts of Europe, and feeds on the leaves of the ash, poplar, elder, lilac, and other trees.

These insects, which are known in medicine by the name of cantharides, are of incalculable importance to mankind, as the basis of blistering plasters, and also as an internal remedy against many diseases. We import them in a dried state, from Spain, Italy, and the South of France; in many parts of which countries, about the middle of summer, they are found in vast abundance. As they are generally in a torpid state during the day, they are easily collected, by shaking them from the trees upon a cloth spread on the ground to receive them. When a sufficient number has been collected they are tied in bags, and killed by being held over the fumes of hot vinegar. After this they are dried in the sun, and packed in boxes for sale. The odour which is emitted by these insects is peculiarly nauseous, and so powerful, that great injury has sometimes been experienced by persons employed in picking them, and by those who have even fallen asleep under the trees where they abound.

Previously to being used they are pounded; and if, in this state, they be applied to the skin, they first cause inflammation, and afterwards raise a blister. The usual blistering plaster is formed with Venice turpentine, yellow wax, Spanish flies, and powdered mustard.

257. The PALM-TREE GRUB, or GRUGRU, is the larva or caterpillar of a coleopterous insect (12), the palm-tree weevil (Curculio palmarum), which is about two inches in length, of black colour, and has the elytra or wing cases shorter than the body, and streaked or marked with several longitudinal lines.

This insect is found in Cayenne, Surinam, and other parts of South America.

It deposits its eggs on the summit of the palm-tree; and the grubs that issue from these eggs subsist on the soft interior parts of the tree. They become about the size of the thumb, and are much sought after in many places for the table. They are generally eaten roasted, and are considered a peculiar delicacy. We are informed, by Ælian, of an Indian king, who for a dessert, instead of fruit, set before his Grecian guests a dish of roasted worms taken from a plant: these were probably the present insects, or a kind nearly allied to them.

258. The LOCUST (Gryllus migratorius) is an insect, not much unlike our large grasshoppers, which is too common in most of the eastern countries.

It is about two inches and a half in length, has a brownish body varied with darker spots, blue legs and jaws, the hind thighs yellowish, and the wings of yellowish brown colour spotted with black.

We are informed, in the New Testament, that the food of John the Baptist in the wilderness was "locusts and wild honey." Some of the commentators have imagined the locusts here mentioned to have been a vegetable production—a species of pulse; but this opinion will scarcely be admitted when it is known that the insects of this name, even at the present day, serve as food to many of the eastern tribes. The Ethiopians and Parthians are recorded, from the earliest periods of antiquity, to have occasionally subsisted on this species of food. And the traveller Hasselquist, in reply to some inquiries which he made on this subject, was informed that, at Mecca, when there was a scarcity of grain, the inhabitants, as a substitute for flour, would grind locusts in their hand-mills, or pound them in stone mortars: that they mixed the substance thus formed with water, and made cakes of it; and that they baked these cakes, like their other bread. He adds, that it was not unusual for them to eat locusts when there was no famine; but that, in this case, they boiled them first in water, and afterwards stewed them with butter into a kind of fricasee. The Hottentots delight in locusts as food, and even make their eggs into a kind of soup. Some of the African tribes pound and boil these insects with milk; and others eat them, after being merely broiled for a little while on the coals. Mr. Jackson says that, when he was in Barbary, in 1799, dishes of locusts were frequently served at the principal tables, and were esteemed a great delicacy. These insects are preferred by the Moors to pigeons; and it is stated that a person may eat 200 or 300 of them without experiencing any ill effects.

259. LAC is a resinous substance, the production of an hemipterous insect (Coccus ficus), which is found on three or four different kinds of trees in the East Indies.

The head and trunk of the lac insect seem to form one uniform, oval, and compressed red body, about the size of a flea. The antennÆ are thread-shaped, and half the length of the body. The tail is a little white point, whence proceed two horizontal hairs as long as the body.

These insects pierce the small branches of the trees on which they feed; and the juice that exudes from the wounds is formed by them into a kind of cell, or nidus for their eggs. Lac is imported, into this country, adhering to the branches, in small transparent grains, or in semi-transparent flat cakes. Of these the first is called stick lac, the second seed lac, and the third shell lac.

On breaking a piece of stick lac it appears to be composed of regular honeycomb-like cells, with small red bodies lodged in them; these are the young insects, and to them the lac owes its tincture; for, when freed from them, its colour is very faint. Seed lac is the same substance grossly pounded and deprived of its colouring matter, which is used in dyeing, and for other purposes; and shell lac consists of the cells liquefied, stained, and formed into thin cakes.

This substance is principally found upon trees in the uncultivated mountains on both sides of the river Ganges; and it occurs in such abundance, that, were the consumption ten times greater than it is, the markets might readily be supplied. The only trouble which attends the procuring of it is to break down the branches of the trees and carry them to market.

The uses of lac, in its different states, are various. It is employed in the East Indies for making rings, beads, chains, necklaces, and other ornaments for female attire. Mixed with sand, it is formed into grind-stones; and added to lamp-black or ivory-black, being first dissolved in water with the addition of a little borax, it composes an ink, which, when dry, is not easily acted upon by moisture. A red liquor obtained from lac is employed as a substitute for cochineal (260) in dyeing scarlet, and in painting. Shell lac is chiefly adopted in the composition of varnish, japan, and sealing-wax. A tincture prepared from lac is sometimes used in medicine.

260. COCHINEAL is a scarlet dyeing drug, which is chiefly imported from Mexico and New Spain, and is the production of a small hemipterous insect (Coccus cacti) that is found on the prickly pear (Cactus opuntia) and some other trees.

The male is winged, and the female not. The latter is of an oval form, convex on the back, and covered with a white downy substance resembling the finest cotton. The antennÆ are half as long as the body, and the legs are short and black.

Cochineal is one of the most valuable substances that are used in dyeing. As imported into this country, it is in the form of a reddish shrivelled grain, covered with a white bloom or powder.

The cochineal insects adhere in great numbers, and in an apparently torpid state, to the leaves of the prickly pear. At a certain period of the year they are carefully picked or brushed off, either by a bamboo twig shaped somewhat into the form of a pen, or by an instrument formed of a squirrel's or stag's tail: and so tedious is the operation, that the persons employed in it are sometimes obliged to sit for hours together beside a single plant. In some parts of South America the insects, after being collected in a wooden bowl, are thickly spread upon a flat dish of earthen ware, and cruelly placed alive over a charcoal fire, where they are slowly roasted, till their downy covering disappears, and they are perfectly dried. In other parts they are killed by being thrown into boiling water, by being placed in ovens, or being exposed in heaps to the sun.

The quantity of cochineal annually exported from South America is said to be worth more than 500,000l. sterling, a vast sum to arise from so minute an insect; and the present annual consumption of cochineal in England has been estimated at about 150,000 pounds' weight.

It is for dyeing scarlet that cochineal is chiefly in demand; but although a peculiarly brilliant dye is now obtained from it, this substance gave only a dull crimson colour until a chemist of the name of Kuster, who, about the middle of the seventeenth century, lived at Bow, near London, discovered the art of preparing it with a solution of tin. Cochineal, if kept in a dry place, may be preserved, without injury, for a great length of time. An instance has been mentioned of some of this dye, 130 years old, having been found to produce the same effect as though it had been perfectly fresh.

The attention of the East India Company has, for many years, been directed to the production of cochineal in the East, but hitherto with little success. That which has been brought from India is very small, and greatly inferior to what is imported from New Spain.

An imitation of cochineal is made by a preparation of bullock's blood, and some other ingredients.

261. The SILK-WORM is a smooth and somewhat lead-coloured caterpillar, produced from the eggs of a moth (PhalÆna mori) which is found in great abundance in China, the East Indies, the Levant, several parts of Italy, and the South of Spain.

So great is the importance of silk, in a commercial view, that, in most of the Eastern countries of the world, a close attention is paid to the growth and cultivation of the insects by which it is produced. Each moth lays about two hundred small straw-coloured eggs. As soon as the worms are hatched they are fed with the tenderest leaves of the mulberry-tree, or with these leaves chopped very fine; and, when they have attained sufficient strength, they are removed into wicker baskets, or placed upon shelves made of wickerwork. Here they feed for about thirty days, until they are full grown, when they are furnished with little bushes of heath or broom. On these they spin the nests in which they are about to change into chrysalids. These nests have the general name of coccoons, and consist of somewhat oval-shaped balls of silk, of marigold colour. The exterior of the coccoon is composed of a rough cotton-like substance, called floss. Within this is the thread, which is more distinct and even; and appears arranged in a very irregular manner, winding off first from one side of the coccoon, and then from the other. Previously to the silk being wound from the coccoons they are baked for about an hour to kill the chrysalids they contain. When the silk is to be wound off, the coccoons are put into small coppers or basins, of water, each placed over a small fire. The ends of the threads are found by brushing the coccoons gently with a whisk made for the purpose; and so fine are these threads that eight or ten of them are generally rolled off into one. In winding them, they are each passed through a hole in an horizontal iron bar placed at the edge of the basin, which prevents them from being entangled.

The art of manufacturing silk was known to the ancients; but in Europe this commodity, long after its invention, was of very great value. We are informed that, in the third century, the wife of the Roman Emperor Aurelian entreated him to give her a robe of purple silk, and that he refused this under an allegation that he could not buy such a robe for its weight in gold.

It is not certain at what precise period the silk manufacture was first introduced into England. But, in the year 1242, we are told that part of the streets of London were covered or shaded with silk, for the reception of Richard, the brother of Henry the Third, on his return from the Holy Land. In 1454 the silk manufactures of England are said to have been confined to ribbons, laces, and other trifling articles. Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, was furnished by her silk-woman with a pair of black knit silk stockings, which she is stated to have admired as "marvellous delicate wear;" and after the using of which she no longer had cloth ones, as before. James the First, whilst king of Scotland, requested of the Earl of Mar the loan of a pair of silk stockings to appear in before the English ambassador, enforcing his request with this cogent appeal, "For ye would not, sure, that your King should appear as a scrub before strangers."

China may be said to be the country of silk; indeed it furnishes large quantities of raw silk to all the neighbouring nations, and to Europe; and also for clothing the greatest part of its own inhabitants. There are in China very few, except the lowest orders, who are not clad in silk garments. The best Chinese silk is that which is imported from Nankin.

The principal silk manufacture in England is carried on in Spitalfields, London.

Although the whole of the silk which is produced in Europe, and the greatest proportion of that manufactured in China, is obtained from the common silkworm; yet considerable quantities are procured, in India, from the caterpillars of other moths. Of these the most important are the TUSSEH and ARRINDY silk worms (PhalÆna paphia and cinthia), both of which are natives of Bengal and the adjacent provinces. The silk from these kinds of worms has long been used by the natives. The former, which is commonly called tusseh silk, is woven into a coarse and dark-coloured kind of cloth, called tusseh dooties, much worn by the Brahmins and other sects of Hindoos. Of the arrindy silk is manufactured a coarse kind of white cloth, of seemingly loose texture, but of almost incredible durability. It is employed as clothing both for men and women; and may be used for more than twenty years without decay. In the washing of it, however, care must be taken to use only cold water, as, if put into boiling water, it will become rotten, and will tear like old and decayed cloth. This kind of silk is not only employed for clothing, but, by merchants, as packing cloths, for silks, shawls, and other fine goods. Some manufacturers in England, to whom the silk was shown, were of opinion that it might be made into shawls, equal in quality to any that we receive from India.

262. The HIVE-BEE (Apis mellifica) is a well-known, hymenopterous insect (12), of uniform brown colour, and with somewhat hairy body.

Bees live in extremely numerous societies, either in decayed trees, or in habitations prepared for them by mankind, called hives. Each hive contains, 1, a single female which has the name of queen-bee; 2, about 1600 males, called drones; and, 3, about 20,000 individuals of neither sex, called working-bees. It is upon the latter that the whole trouble devolves of constructing combs, or cells, for the honey and for the eggs deposited by the female; collecting and forming the honey, and feeding the grubs which proceed from the eggs, and which afterwards change into bees.

Bees' wax is the substance of the combs after the honey has been extracted from them. The best kind is hard, compact, of clear yellow colour, and an agreeable odour, nearly similar to that of honey. It is melted, and cast in moulds of different sizes and shapes. White wax is prepared from common bees' wax by melting it into water, and exposing it, for a considerable time, to the action of the sun, air, and water. When sufficiently bleached, it is cast into thin cakes. The purposes for which wax is applicable are very numerous. Great quantities of white wax are annually consumed in the manufacture of candles; and in making cerates, plasters, and ointments.

Honey is a sweet and fluid substance, which is collected from flowers, and deposited in the combs for support of the bees and their offspring. The honey made by young bees is purer than any other, and is thence called virgin honey. Before the discovery of sugar, honey was of much greater importance than it is at present. Yet both as a delicious article of food, and as the basis of a wholesome fermented liquor called mead, it is of no mean value even in this country; but in many parts of the Continent, where sugar is much dearer than with us, few articles of rural economy, not of primary importance, would be dispensed with more reluctantly than honey. In the Ukraine some of the peasants have each 400 or 500 bee-hives, and make more profit of their bees than of corn. And in Spain the number of hives is almost incredible: a single parish priest is stated to have possessed 5000.

Bee-hives that are made of straw are usually preferred to any others, as they are not liable to be overheated by the sun; they keep out the cold better than wood, and are cheaper than those formed of any other material. The profit arising from bees, when properly attended to, is very considerable; and, to obtain the greatest possible advantage from them, they should be supplied with every convenience for the support of themselves and their offspring. They should be kept in a good situation; that is, in a country abounding with flowers; at a distance from brew-houses, smelting-works, &c. and in well-constructed hives. In France floating bee-hives are very common. One barge contains from sixty to a hundred hives well defended from the inclemency of the weather. With these the owners float gently down the stream, whilst the insects gather honey from the flowers along the banks.

Many of the bee-masters in France have an ingenious mode of transporting the loaded bee-hives from one part of the country to another. They are fastened together by laths placed on pack-cloth, which is drawn up on each side, and then tied by a piece of pack-thread several times round the top. In this state they are laid in a cart, and can be carried in safety to very considerable distances.

When the young bees begin to appear, the hives become so much crowded that they swarm or separate. This usually takes place in the month of May, or earlier if the season be warm.

In England it is customary, in taking the honey, to destroy the bees, by suffocating them with the fumes of brimstone; but there are modes, which not only humanity but even policy would recommend, of obtaining the honey without injuring the insects.

263. The COMMON, or BLACK-CLAWED CRAB (Cancer pagurus, Fig. 76), is a crustaceous animal, with smooth shell, of somewhat oval shape, having a margin with nine folds on each side, and the great claws black at the tip.

These crabs inhabit the rocky parts of the sea both of Europe and India.

They are frequently caught at low water of the spring tides, under stones and in crevices of the rocks. But the usual mode is by large wicker baskets made somewhat in the shape of wire mouse-traps, and baited with garbage or fish. When caught, the large claws are tied together, or (with great cruelty) pegged in the joints, to prevent the animals from destroying each other. They are then put into store baskets, which are placed in the sea, until the crabs are wanted for sale. In these they are kept sometimes for many weeks, without any other food than what they can collect from the sea-water.

The principal season for crabs is the spring of the year; and those of middle size which are the heaviest are best. When in perfection the joints of the legs are stiff, and the body has an agreeable smell. If the eyes look dead and flaccid, the crabs are not fresh.

The article which is used in medicine called crabs' claws, consists of the black tips of the claws pounded, well washed in boiling water, and reduced to a fine powder.

264. The LAND CRAB (Cancer ruricola) is a crustaceous animal, common in some parts of America, the Bahamas, and other islands in the West Indies, which has a rounded shell without margin, and the first joints of the legs spinous, and the second and third furnished with tufts of hair.

The shells of the largest land crabs are about six inches in diameter, and of various colours.

These crabs inhabit the clefts of rocks, the hollows of trees, or holes which they form in the ground. In the early part of the year they descend in myriads to the sea-coast, to deposit their eggs in the sand. They chiefly travel by night, but in rainy weather they also proceed during the day. The inhabitants of the countries where they abound are always eagerly on watch for their migrations towards the sea, and destroy immense numbers of them, disregarding, at this time, the bodies, and only taking out the spawn. It is on their return that the animals themselves are valuable as food.

265. The LOBSTER (Cancer gammarus, Fig. 74) is a well known crustaceous animal, distinguished by its long and jointed tail, its shell being smooth, and having betwixt the eyes a kind of beak toothed on each side, and with a double tooth at its base.

These animals are of bluish black colour when alive, but, in boiling, this changes to a dingy red. They sometimes grow to an immense size.

Lobsters are found among marine rocks in nearly all parts of Europe.

They are caught much in the same manner as crabs (263). The London markets are supplied with great numbers of lobsters from the Orkney Islands and the eastern parts of Scotland, and even from the coast of Norway. It is said that in London lobsters are sometimes boiled every day for a week or longer, to keep them sweet externally; but, notwithstanding this precaution, their inner parts become putrid. An immoderate use both of lobsters and crabs is sometimes attended with irruptions in the face, or a species of nettle rash over the whole body; and, when eaten in a state approaching to putrescence, they are sometimes productive of still more disagreeable effects.

When selected for the table, lobsters ought to be heavy in proportion to their size, and to have a hard, and firm crust. During winter the male lobsters are generally preferred for the table. These are distinguished by the narrowness of their tail, and by the first two fins beneath being large and hard. The females, on the contrary, are broader in the tail, and have these fins small and soft. The roe or eggs are found under the tail of the females for some time after they have been protruded from the body, and in this state the females are generally preferred to the males. When fresh, the tails of lobsters are stiff, and pull open with a spring, but when they are stale the joints of the tail become flaccid.

266. The SEA CRAW-FISH, or SPINY LOBSTER (Cancer homarus), is a crustaceous animal, distinguishable from the common lobster, by its shell being covered with spines, mud by each of the legs ending in a hairy claw.

This species is of large size, and is found in most of the European seas.

Sea craw-fish are very common in the London markets, where they are sold at a price inferior to that of the common lobsters. Their flesh is hard, and has a peculiar sweetness, which by many persons is much disliked. At Marseilles, and on the coast of the Mediterranean, however, they are in considerable request on account of their eggs, which are esteemed a great delicacy. These begin to appear towards the end of May, and are cast about two months afterwards.

267. The COMMON, or FRESH-WATER CRAW-FISH (Cancer astacus), is a small crustaceous animal, in shape somewhat resembling a lobster, and distinguished by having its large claws beset with numerous tubercles, and the beak between its eyes being toothed on each side, and having a single tooth at the base.

It inhabits holes in the clayey or stony banks of many of the rivers of England, and is seldom known to exceed the length of three or four inches.

Craw-fish are frequently used in cookery; and their flesh is considered nutritive, but somewhat indigestible.

Those substances which in medicine are improperly denominated crabs' eyes are concretions formed within the thorax of the craw-fish. They are generally about the size of peas, or larger, somewhat flatted on one side, and of whitish colour. The principal part of them are brought from Muscovy, and particularly from the banks of the river Don.

In England the usual mode of catching craw-fish is by cleft sticks, baited with flesh or garbage, and stuck in the mud near their haunts at the distance of a few feet from each other. After being suffered to remain some time, these are gently drawn up, and a basket is put under them to receive the animals, which always drop off as soon as they are brought to the surface of the water.

268. The COMMON SHRIMP (Cancer crangon), is a very small crustaceous animal, somewhat shaped like a lobster; having four antennÆ, the two interior ones short and double, with two thin projecting laminÆ beneath them, and on each of the large claws a single moveable fang.

Shrimps are common in shallow parts of the sea where the bottom is sandy.

269. The PRAWN (Cancer squilla, Fig. 75), is a small crustaceous animal, which differs from the shrimp in having a preceding and sharply serrated horn in front of its head, four antennÆ, of which the two interior ones are long, and each in three divisions, and on each of the large claws two fangs.

It is found in many parts of the European ocean.

Both these species are in great demand for the table, the former chiefly as sauce, and the latter to eat as a relish at breakfast or with the last courses at dinner. They are an agreeable repast, and more easily digestible than either crabs or lobsters.

The mode in which they are caught is generally by a kind of net called a putting net, which is fixed to the end of a long pole, and pushed along upon the sand in shallow water. Prawns in some places are caught in wicker baskets, similar in shape to those which are used for the catching of crabs (263).

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