Wild Bees, Wasps and Ants and Other Stinging Insects

by Edward Saunders

ON BREEDING ACULEATES, ETC.

Any one who wishes to study the life-histories of these insects, and has leisure to do so, can easily obtain various larvæ by digging for them in suitable places. If, for instance, during the summer, bees, etc., have been noticed entering holes in a certain bank or sandy spot, their larvæ or nymphs can be got in the autumn by digging down for about a foot in the direction of the holes, and if they be brought home and put into glass-top boxes they will generally emerge at their right time without giving any further trouble; it must, however, be remembered that the grubs are very soft and tender skinned, and it is better to avoid handling them if possible; they should be moved with a small soft camel-hair pencil, and it is well to put something soft at the bottom of the box so that if they fall in they will not be damaged. If the wood-boring

species are being collected, care must of course be taken in splitting the wood; most of these make a pupa case over themselves, and are in that respect easier to deal with. A label should be put in each box to show where the larvæ, etc., were found. An old rotten stump of a tree will often produce a good number of species. Then there are the bramble-stem borers; these can be left in the stems. I have generally found it convenient, after arriving home, to split the stems down, to see if there are any living creatures in them, and, if there are, to close them up again, and, tie a little very fine net or gauze bag over the top of each stem; in this way one can find out exactly what insects come from what stem, and determine the cuckoos (if any) which belong to each. As the season advances towards May, it is well to give all the larvæ, etc., an occasional glimpse of the sun; they should not be left in the sun long enough for them to get dried up too much, but the sun is a very important factor in tempting them to emerge; naked larvæ and nymphs, in glass-top boxes, should be treated very carefully in this respect, as they are deprived of their

natural surroundings, in which the actual sunshine would never reach them—it would be better to place them in a sunny room, screened off from the actual rays of the sun, so that its warmth only would be felt. If they do not emerge the first year, it should not be taken for granted that they are dead, as very likely they will appear in the following spring. I have bred leaf-cutting bees several times with great success, and others I know have been successful with many species. The fear is to get them dried up too much; it is therefore not desirable to keep them in a very hot room. When first the insects emerge, their hairs are often more or less matted together, and they should be put in the sun in a larger box, so that they can crawl about and clean themselves; portions also of the skin in which they have been enveloped frequently adhere to them for some little time, but as a rule, unless the creature be too weak, these are very soon cleaned off. Breeding is a fascinating amusement, but it requires a great deal of attention when the emerging season begins, as the boxes want constant watching, or the insects will emerge unnoticed, and, if not given proper

air and sunshine, may die without cleaning themselves properly.

If it is desired to preserve the specimens, they should be killed either with cyanide of potassium, ether, or chloroform. If the first of these agents is used, a piece of about the size of a small hazel nut should be put at the bottom of a bottle (for collecting purposes, an ordinary "Coleoptera bottle", which can be obtained from any naturalist's shop, is the most convenient) and should be kept down by a wad of blotting paper, well pressed down upon it; this prevents the cyanide, as it liquifies, from wetting the hairs, etc., of the insects. Over this a piece of white paper should be placed; this will get stained at once when there is much damp, and should then be changed. The objections to cyanide are its very poisonous nature, and the stiffness which is caused by its use to the specimens killed by it, and also its tendency to turn yellow colours red. I always use it myself as I think it is preferable to the other insecticides, notwithstanding its demerits, but then I do not extend the legs and wings of my specimens, but simply leave them in whatever position they happen to

die. Ether is a very favourite method of killing with many; a few drops in a bottle with some paper in it is sufficient to last for some hours; it however soon evaporates in hot weather, and it is necessary to carry a small phial of it in one's pocket to replenish the supply when exhausted; this makes one smell of ether perpetually, which is more than I can stand. But the insects killed in this way are beautifully supple, and, for those who wish to set their captures as they would Lepidoptera, it is an excellent medium, i.e. if they don't mind its smell; it has also the benefit of not affecting colour. Chloroform acts much as ether does. When killed, I strongly recommend collectors to pin their specimens through the thorax with a very fine pin (those used for micro-lepidoptera are the best), and then to pin this through a narrow strip of card, mounted on a long stout pin; in this way the insect can be moved about by the strong pin, and the thorax of the insect itself is not destroyed, as it often is in the case of the smaller species by the use of thicker pins. The cards should be cut as small as possible; they need not be more than a quarter of an inch long. The insect

should be pinned at right angles to the long axis of the card, and the long pin should be inserted on the right-hand side of the insect so as not quite to touch it. In this way the insects look quite as neat as if they were pinned direct. Locality labels, etc., should be affixed to the long pin, and the insects should be stored in cabinets or boxes.

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