The Romance of Submarine Engineering
SEELEY, SERVICE & CO., LIMITED.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I | |
|---|---|
| PAGE | |
| “The natural system”—A middle course—Neuropterous insects—White ants and their ways—Kings and queens—A royal diet—Secondary majesties—Soldiers and workers—Ant invaders—Methods of warfare | [13] |
| CHAPTER II | |
| Ant language—Stridulatory organs—How white ants communicate—Conversation through convulsions—Nests in tubes—Detection of a “crepitus”—Mutual recognition—Cannibalistic propensities—Royal jealousy—Loyal assassins—A kingly feast—Methods of feeding—Foundation of colonies—Swarming habits | [20] |
| CHAPTER III | |
| Ants and white ants—Guest insects—Ants’-nest beetles—Doubtful relations—A strange forbearance—Yellow ants and white wood-lice—Beetles fed by ants | [32] |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| Ant parasites—Fleet-footed brigands—Honey-stealing mites—A strange table companion—Privileged cockroaches—Ants and their riders—A fly-ride on beetle-back | [42] |
| CHAPTER V | |
| From biped to quadruped—Flies that borrow wings—Sit-o’-my-head—A novel cradle—Flies that kill bees—Nature’s sadness—Consolations of the future—The Tachina fly and the locust | [54] |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| The burden of the locusts—Classical nonsense—Address to Mahomet—Locusts in Europe—Succumb to the English climate—Described by Darwin—Locusts in Africa—The wingless host do greatest damage—Hoppers and jumpers—“An army on the march” | [65] |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| The sense of direction—How locusts look flying—Follow no leader—Unanimity of movement—Flight by moonlight—Roosting at night—Extirpated in Cyprus—The “Chinese Wall” system—Not adapted to Australia—Deference to aboriginal feeling—Locusts in Australia—Strange ceremony of egg-laying—Inadequate explanation | [75] |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| Locusts and locustidæ—The most musical grasshoppers—Katydid concerts—A much resembling note—Cricket thermometers—Cicadas and sounding-boards—Admired musicians—An appreciative audience | [85] |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| A Greek mistake—Nature vindicated—Cicadas provided for—A difficult feat—Perseverance rewarded—Cicadas in story—Dear to Apollo—Men before the Muses—Plato and Socrates—Athenian views—A mausoleum for pets—The Greek ploughman—Apollo’s judgment—Hercules’ bad taste—Modern survivals—A beneficent insect—Elementary education in Tuscany | [98] |
| CHAPTER X | |
| Cicadas in England—A blower of bubbles—The prolific Aphis—A nice calculation—Scientific curiosity—Dragon-fly armies—The son of the south-west wind | [108] |
| CHAPTER XI | |
| Aphides and their enemies—Curious interrelations—The biter bit—Altruistic development—Bread and beer protectors—Saved by ladybirds | [119] |
| CHAPTER XII | |
| Ants and their honey-cows—A mutual benefit—Unity of motive—The end and the means—Two ways of getting honey—Insect cattle—Wasps as cow-milkers—A cow-keeping bee—Ant cow-sheds—Aphides in ants’ nests—Children of light and darkness—Forethought extraordinary | [129] |
| CHAPTER XIII | |
| Cow caterpillars—The adventures of Theophrastus—Cave-born Ariels—Led to the sky—A strange attraction—Ant slaves and slave-holders—Slave-making raids—Feeble masters—An ant mystery—Effects of slavery—The decadent’s reply | [144] |
| CHAPTER XIV | |
| Ant partnerships—How some ants feed—Persuasive methods—An imperium in imperio—Amusement by instinct—Begging the question—Nest within nest—Ant errors v. human perfection—Distorted arguments—How partnerships begin—Housing an enemy—Ant ogres | [159] |
| CHAPTER XV | |
| Ant wonders—Leaves cut for mushroom growing—How ants plant mushrooms—A nest in a mushroom-bed—“Psychic plasticity”—Two opinions—Ant stupidity—Unfair comparisons—The ant and the servant-maid—Mushroom-growing beetles—Choked by ambrosia—Intelligent uselessness—Automatic phraseology—A curious insect | [172] |
| CHAPTER XVI | |
| From wood to ambrosia—Wood-boring beetles—Rival claimants—Stag and other beetles—Metempsychosis—Flies with horns—Comical combatants—Female encouragement—The sacred Scarabæus—A beetle with a profession—Table companions—Old and new fallacies—From theft to partnership | [188] |
| CHAPTER XVII | |
| Do ants sow and reap?—Rival observers—The Texan v. Macaulay’s schoolboy—More evidence wanted—How ants cross rivers—Tubular bridges—Ant armies—A world in flight—Living nests—Ants and plants—Mutual dependence—Nests in thorns and tubers—Ant honey-pots—Business humanity—Burial customs—A strange observation—Two views of ants | [200] |
| CHAPTER XVIII | |
| Bees and wasps—A bee’s masonry—What happens to caterpillars—Living food—Variations in instinct—A wasp’s implement—Unreal distinctions—A cautious observer—Bees that make tunnels—A wonderful instinct—Leaf-cutting bees—Nests made of poppy-leaves—Born in the purple—Commercial philosophy—The appreciative white man—Economy of labour—Bees and rats—Busy shadows—A bee double | [218] |
| CHAPTER XIX | |
| Natural selection—Protective resemblances—A locust’s stratagem—Mock leaf-cutting ants—Flowery dissemblers—A Malay explanation—Snake-suggesting caterpillars—A prudent lizard—Inconclusive experiments—A bogus ant—Flies that live with bees—A caterpillar that dresses up—A portrait-modelling caterpillar | [238] |
| CHAPTER XX | |
| Butterfly resemblances—A living leaf—How spiders trap butterflies—Butterfly doubles—Suggested explanation—More evidence wanted—Warning coloration—A theory on trust—A straightforward test—Advice to naturalists—A strange omission | [255] |
| CHAPTER XXI | |
| Sights of the forest—A butterfly bridge—Bird-winged butterflies—“What’s in a name?”—Scientific sensibility—Resemblance v. mimicry—A convenient wrong word—Beauty in nature—Nuptial display—Strange counter-theory—Lucus a non lucendo—Reasoning by contraries—True in Topsy-turvydom—Butterfly courtship—Form and colour—A curious suggestion—Powers of defective eyesight | [272] |
| CHAPTER XXII | |
| Beautiful spiders—The “Peckham paper”—Spider courtships—Male antics and love-dances—Occasional accidents—Strength of the evidence—The one explanation—Darwin’s last words—His theory established | [289] |
| CHAPTER XXIII | |
| Web-making spiders—Dangerous wooings—An unkind lady-love—Lizard-eating spiders—Enlightened curiosity—Rival entomologists—Instinct of resignation—A worm-eating spider—Alternative explanation—The dangers of patriotism—Trap-door spiders—Web-flying spiders—Spiders that nearly fly—Spider navigators—The raft and the diving-bell | [307] |
| CHAPTER XXIV | |
| Aquatic insects—Lyonnet’s water-beetle—A floating cradle—Larva and pupa—An ingenious contrivance—Nothing useless—The imaginary philosopher—How the cradle is made—The mysterious “mast”—Later observation—The giant water-bug—An oppressed husband | [320] |
| CHAPTER XXV | |
| One remark—Phosphorescent insects—Glow-worms and fire-flies—Fiery courtship—A beetle with three lamps—Travelling by beetle-light—The great lantern-fly controversy—Is it luminous?—Madame Merian’s statement—Contradictory evidence—A Chinese edict—Suggested use of the “lantern”—Confirmation required—Luminous centipedes | [329] |
| CHAPTER XXVI | |
| Scorpions and suicide—The act proved—Intention probable—Conflicting evidence—Scorpions and cockroaches—Concentrating backwards—Economy of poison—Decorous feeding | [345] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
By Lancelot Speed & Carton Moore Park