XXIII. 1. Atriplex littoralis, Grass-leaved Sea Orache. On the coast. 9. Boggy heaths. Wet mountains and XXIV. 1. Aspidium cristatum, Crested Shield-fern. heaths. 9. Lycopodium Alpinum, Mountain Club-moss. Stony mountains and heaths. SELECT CALENDAR OF BRITISH INSECTS. Nebria livida. Callistus lunatus. Coast of Yorkshire. To 9. Kent. Zabrus gibbus. Corn fields. Geotrupes sylvaticus, Wood Dor-Beetle. Heaths. Ripiphorus paradoxus. Wasp nests. Locusta flavipes, Yellow-legged Locust. Acheta campestris, Field Cricket. Banks. To 9. Colias Europome, The Clouded Sulphur Butterfly. Meadows in the South. To 9. Vanessa Antiope, The Camberwell Beauty. Willows and oaks. To 9. Vanessa Atalanta, The Red Admiral. Gardens. To 9. Cynthia Cardui, The Painted Lady. Heaths and woods. To 10. Hipparchia Blandina, Scotch Argus. Isle of Arran and Durham. Thecla Betulæ, Brown Hair-streak Butterfly. Birch woods. Lycæna Chryseis, The Purple-edged Copper Butterfly. Epping and Ashdown Forest. To 9. Lycæna Virgaureæ, The Middle Copper Butterfly. Isle of Ely. Pamphila Comma, The Pearl Skipper. Heaths and downs. To 9. Porthesia auriflua, Brown-tail Moth. Hedges. Ripiphorus paradoxus. This curious insect is, I believe, invariably found in the nest of the common wasp, or its immediate vicinity. The female deposits her eggs in the cells of the wasp's comb, and leaves them to be fed, protected, and reared in the same manner as the young wasps. This curious proceeding is only equalled by the cuckoo, who leaves her eggs to the hedge-sparrow. In this part of the country there are few wasp-nests without one or more of this insect if the cells be carefully examined. Locusta (locusts and grasshoppers). This country is only occasionally visited by the devastating migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), which, with other, large species of the same genus, make such tremendous havoc with every green thing in more southern latitudes. The smaller species, to the number of more than twenty, are found in this country, and towards the end of the summer months tend to enliven by their chirpings almost every heath and dry bank in the kingdom. Grasshoppers were held in high estimation by the Egyptians and Greeks for their musical powers. Kirby and Spence Cicada; but if we contend that these were are to believe certain ancient gems in the Florentine Gallery, they were clearly of the genus Locusta, to which our grasshoppers belong; and this fact is confirmed by Kirby and Spence themselves, in vol. ii. page 401, where they inform us, that in Spain "people of fashion keep these animals-called there Grillo-in cages, which they name Grilleria, for the sake of their song." They add, that—"Tettigonia, F., called by the Ancient Greeks-by whom they were often kept in cages for the sake of their song-Tettix, seem to have been the favourites of every Grecian bard, from Homer and Hesiod to Ana creon and Theocritus-supposed to be perfectly harmless, and to live only upon dew; they were addressed by the most endearing epithets, and were regarded as all but divine. One bard entreats the shepherds to spare the innoxious Tettix, that nightingale of the nymphs, and to make those mischievous birds, the thrush and blackbird, their prey. Sweet prophet of the summer,' says Anacreon, addressing this insect, 'the Muses love thee; Phœbus himself loves thee, and has given thee a shrill song; old age does not wear thee; thou art wise, earth-born, musical, impassive, without blood; thou art almost like a god.' So attached were the Athenians to these insects, that they were accustomed to fasten golden images of them in their hair, implying, at the same time, a boast that they themselves, as well as the Cicada, were Terræ filii. They were regarded indeed by all as the happiest as well as the most innocent of animals-not, we will suppose, for the reason given by the saucy Rhodian Xenarchus, when he says, Happy the Cicadas' lives, Since they all have voiceless wives. "If the Grecian Tettix, or Cicada, had been distinguished by a harsh and deafening note, like those of some other countries, it would hardly have been an object of such affection. That it was not, is clearly proved by the con nexion which was supposed to exist between it and music. Thus the sound of this insect and of the harp were called by one and the same name. A Cicada, sitting upon a harp, was a usual emblem of the science of music, which was thus accounted for :-" When two rival musicians, Eunomus and Ariston, were contending upon that instrument, a Cicada, flying to the former, and sitting upon his harp, supplied the place of a broken string, and so secured to him the victory." As far as is at present known respecting the vocal powers of the Cicade and the Locustæ, it appears that the whole of the foregoing quotation will more strictly apply to the latter than to the former; but if it can be clearly shown, on equal authority with these Gems, that the Grecian Tettix is the Cicada, or Tettigonia, of modern entomologists, it will follow that the Greeks were in the habit of including both families under the same appellation. See plate 96, of Engravings of Gems from the Florentine Gallery; or a copy in the Continued Appendix to Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, page 77. |