The figures of the early stages of a minute ichneumon represented on the same plate (Fig. 7, larva, and 7a, pupa, of Anthophorabia megachilis) which is parasitic on Megachile, the Leaf-cutter bee, illustrates the transformations of the Ichneumon flies, the smallest species of which yet known (and we believe the smallest insect known at all) is the Pteratomus Putnami (Pl. I, Fig. 8, wanting the hind leg), or "winged atom," which is only one-ninetieth of an inch in length, and is parasitic on Anthophorabia, itself a parasite. A species of mite (Plate I, Figs. 9; 9a, the same seen from beneath) is always to be found In humble bees' nests, but it is not thought to be specially obnoxious to the bees themselves, though several species of mites (Gamasus, etc.) are known to be parasitic on insects.
CHAPTER IV.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.
The butterflies and moths from their beauty and grace, have always been the favorites among amateur entomologists, and rare and costly works have been published in which their forms and gorgeous colors are represented in the best style of natural history art. We need only mention the folio volume of Madam Merian of the last century, Harris's Aurelian, the works of Cramer, Stoll, Drury, Hübner, Horsfield, Doubleday and Westwood, and Hewitson, as comprising the most luxurious and costly entomological works.
Near the close of the last century, John Abbot went from London and spent several years in Georgia, rearing the larger and more showy butterflies and moths, and painting them in the larva, chrysalis and adult, or imago stage. These drawings he sent to London to be sold. Many of them were collected by Sir James Edward Smith, and published under the title of "The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia, collected from the Observations of John Abbot, with the Plants on which they Feed." (London, 1797. 2 vols., fol.) Besides these two rare volumes there are sixteen folio volumes of drawings by Abbot in the Library of the British Museum. This work is of especial interest to the American student as it illustrates the early stages of many of our butterflies and moths.
Indeed the study of insects possesses most of its interest when we observe their habits and transformations. Caterpillars are always to be found, and with a little practice are easy to raise; we would therefore advise any one desirous of beginning the study of insects to take up the butterflies and moths. They are perhaps easier to study than any other group of insects, and are more ornamental in the cabinet. As a scientific study we would recommend it to ladies as next to botany in interest and in the ease in which specimens may be collected and examined. The example of Madam Merian, and several ladies in this country who have greatly aided science by their well filled cabinets, and critical knowledge of the various species and their transformations, is an earnest of what may be expected from their followers. Though the moths are easy to study compared with the bees, flies, beetles and bugs, and dragon flies, yet many questions of great interest in philosophical entomology have been answered by our knowledge of their structure and mode of growth. The great works of Herold on the evolution of a caterpillar; of Lyonet on the anatomy of the Cossus; of Newport on that of the Sphinx; and of Siebold on the parthenogenesis of insects, are proofs that the moths have engaged the attention of some of the master minds in science.
The study of the transformations of the moths is also of great importance to one who would acquaint himself with the questions concerning the growth and metamorphoses and origin of animals. We should remember that the very words "metamorphosis" and "transformation," now so generally applied to other groups of animals and used in philosophical botany, were first suggested by those who observed that the moth and butterfly attain their maturity only by passing through wonderful changes of form and modes of life.
The knowledge of the fact that all animals pass through some sort of a metamorphosis is very recent in physiology. Moreover the fact that these morphological eras in the life of an individual animal accord most unerringly with the gradation of forms in the type of which it is a member, was the discovery of the eminent physiologist Von Baer. Up to this time the true significance of the luxuriance and diversity of larval forms had never seriously engaged the attention of systematists in entomology.
What can possibly be the meaning of all this putting on and taking off of caterpillar habiliments, or in other words, the process of moulting, with the frequent changes in ornamentation, and the seeming fastidiousness and queer fancies and strange conceits of these young and giddy insects seems hidden and mysterious to human observation. Indeed, few care to spend the time and trouble necessary to observe the insect through its transformations; and that done, if only the larva of the perfect insect can be identified and its form sketched how much was gained! A truthful and circumstantial biography, in all its relations, of a single insect has yet to be written!