Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of LondonThe Society., 1880 - Entomology |
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Common terms and phrases
abdomen allied antennæ apex apical apical segment Atanquez basal joint basal segment base beneath brassy Brit Brus Butler carinated Catal Chev Cladodes clypeus coll colour convex costa coxæ Cram diaphanous differs disc disco distinct dull elongate elytra eyes Fabr Feld female femora finely punctured flagellum flavis flavo front fuscis fuscous genus Godman and Salvin Gorh Guérin gynandromorphism hairs hairy head and thorax hind angles Hind body Hind wing insect larvæ lateral margins legs Length Lepidoptera Linn Lucidota Luciola luminous male Manaure mandibles mesothorax metathorax middle mill Mots Mycalesis narrow nearly nervures nigris ocelli pale paler palpi petiole Photinus Photuris Plate posterior tibiæ posteriorly posticis prothorax pubescence pygidium rugose scarcely scutellum sexes shining short Shuck side slightly Society species specimens spines spot strongly punctured subcostal submarginal cell suture Syst tarsi testaceous thorax tibiæ TRANS transverse ventral yellow
Popular passages
Page xvi - Ent. Soc. London, 1880, p. ii., Mr. McLachlan . . " had at that time advanced the opinion that the phenomenon in question might be caused by currents of air inducing the insects to simultaneously change their direction of flight.
Page xlix - Bembex was quite at a loss, and did not even recognise her own offspring. It seems as if she knew the door, the nursery, and the passage, but not her child. Another ingenious experiment of M. Fabre's was made with Chalicodoma. This genus is enclosed in an earthen cell, through which at maturity the young insect eats its way. M. Fabre found that if he pasted a piece of paper round the cell the insect had no difficulty in eating through it ; but if he enclosed the cell in a paper case, so that there...
Page xlix - Miltogramma's opportunity ; she pounces on the victim, and almost instantaneously lays on it two or three eggs, which are then transferred, with the insect on which they are to feed, to the cell. It is remarkable how the Bembex remembers (if one may use such a word) the entrance to her cell, covered as it is with sand, exactly to our eyes like that all round. Yet she never makes a mistake or loses her way.
Page xvi - ... waste of energy in heat. For it must be observed, that while in one sense heat is the cause of all the phenomena we perceive, since they all have existence only within certain ranges of temperature, in another sense heat is frequently a waste product, and the only one by which...
Page xvi - London, 1880, p. iii), observes : " that the exact nature of the phosphorescence was still an unsolved problem both to the physicist and biologist. Some years ago he had examined the spectrum of the glow-worm, and found that it was continuous, being rich in blue and green rays, and comparatively poor in red and yellow.
Page xvi - Lampyrida.' played the same part as the bright colors of many caterpillars, ie, that it served as a danger signal, warning nocturnal foes of the inedibility of the species of this family, which he had found to be generally distasteful to birds, &c.
Page xlviii - ... trying in vain to get a grip, gives the matter up as a bad job, and leaves her victim in despair, without ever thinking of dragging it by one of its legs. Again, when a Sphex had provisioned her cell, laid her egg, and was about to close it up, M. Fabre drove her away, and took out both, tbe Ephippigera and the egg.
Page xlix - This species, which provisions its nest with small grasshoppers, when it returns to the cell leaves the grasshopper outside. and goes down for a moment to see that all is right. During her absence M. Fabre moved the grasshopper a little. Out came the Sphex, soon found her victim, dragged it to the mouth of the cell, and though she had just been down again left her prey as usual, and went alone into the cell.
Page xlvii - ... mistaken in affirming the existence of such an invagination in either the Chaetopoda or the Arthropoda. The observations recorded in this paper on the yolk cells and their derivations are, on the whole, in close harmony with the observations of Dohrn, Bobretsky, and Graber, on Insects. They show, however, that the first formed mesoblastic plate does not give rise to the whole of the mesoblast, but that during the whole of embryonic life the mesoblast continues to receive accessions of cells derived...
Page l - Sphex of the following year, after two or three disappointments the Sphex learnt wisdom by experience, and carried the grasshopper directly down into the cell. Perhaps, however, it may be asked why should the insect change its habit ? Several reasons might be suggested. The prey first selected might be exterminated, or at any rate diminish in numbers, and though each species as a general rule confines itself to one special victim, some exceptions have already...