Each person has a distinctive character, which sometimes seems to come from the inheritance of his or her forefathers, but it is very difficult when you want to trace where exactly this character comes from.
When I was very young, I had a desire to be close to things in nature. If you think that my love of observing plants and insects was inherited from my ancestors, that's a big joke.
Because my ancestors were uneducated countrymen, and the only things they knew and cared about were the cows and sheep they raised themselves. Among my grandparents, only one of them ever turned the pages of a book, either.
Chapter II The Mysterious Pond
I never get tired of gazing at the pond when I do. There was no telling how many busy little lives would be alive and well in this little green world.
Everywhere along the pond, piles of tiny black tadpoles can be seen chasing after each other; the salamander with its red belly also sways its broad tail like a rudder, slowly moving forward; in the reed grass, we can also find groups of larvae of stoneworms, which hide their respective bodies in small sheaths made of withered twigs--this small sheaths are used as a defense against natural enemies and all sorts of unexpected disasters.
Chapter 3: Stoneworms
I put into the pond some tiny aquatic animals called stoneworms. To be exact, they were the larvae of stoneworm moths, usually very cleverly hidden in a small sheath made of dead twigs.
The stoneworm originally grew in the reeds of the mire swamps. In many cases, it clung to the broken branches of the reeds and drifted with them in the water. The small sheath was its mobile house.
This movable house could actually be considered a very finely woven work of art, made up of the root bark of the kind of plant that is soaked in water and then shed.
Chapter 4 The Dung Beetle
The first time the dung beetle was talked about was six or seven thousand years ago in the past. Farmers in ancient Egypt, when irrigating their fields in the spring, used to see a fat, black insect passing by them, busily pushing backward something like a round ball. They were, of course, surprised to notice the oddly shaped, spinning object, like the farmers in Brovins today.
Once upon a time the Egyptians imagined that this orb was a model of the earth, and that the movements of the dung beetle coincided with the workings of the heavenly planets. They thought the beetle was sacred because it had so much knowledge of astronomy, so they called it the "sacred beetle".
At the same time, they thought that the sphere which the beetle threw on the ground and rolled around contained the eggs from which the little beetles came out. But in fact, it was merely its food pantry. There were no eggs in it.
Chapter 5: Cicadas
The worst offenders are the ants. I've seen them bite the tips of a cicada's legs, drag its wings, climb up its back, and even once a ferocious tough guy went so far as to grab the cicada's straw and try to pull it off right in front of me.
At last, the trouble grew so great that there was nothing to be done, and the singer had no choice but to leave behind the well he had made, and to make a quiet escape. So the ant achieved his purpose and took possession of the well. But this well also dried up very quickly, and the pulp was immediately eaten up. So it sought another opportunity to rob another well for a second helping.
See, the real truth, is not the opposite of that fable? The ant is the tenacious beggar, but the diligent producer is the cicada!
CHAPTER VI THE PLUMBER BEES
There are many kinds of insects that are very fond of building their nests beside our houses, and of these the one that arouses the most interest has to be the first of all that animal called the she-waisted bee.
Why? The main reason is that the wasp has a very beautiful and attractive body, a very intelligent mind, and one thing that should be noted is its very strange nest. However, very few people know about this little insect.
There are even times when they live next to a family's fireplace, but the family knows nothing about their little neighbor. Why? Mainly because of its innate, quiet, and peaceful nature. Indeed, this little creature lived in such seclusion that it was difficult to draw attention to itself.
Chapter VII The Mantis
There is an insect in the south which, like the cicada, is of great interest, but is not very well known, for it cannot sing. If it had also a kind of cymbal, it would have a reputation, which should be much greater than that of a famous musician, for it is very unusual in shape and habits. It would be an excellent musician.
Many years ago, in the time of ancient Greece, this insect was called the praying mantis, or seer. Farmers saw it standing half straight up on the sun-scorched grass in a stately attitude, with its broad, gossamer-thin wings, trailing like a mask, and its forelegs, shaped like arms, stretched out in mid-air as if praying, and to the uneducated farmer it looked as if it were a nymph, so that later it came to be called the Praying Mantis.
CHAPTER VIII THE BEES, THE CATS, AND THE RED ANTS
I wish I could have known more about the bees. I had heard talk of the bee's ability to recognize directions, and that no matter where it was abandoned, it could always get back on its own. So I wanted to try it for myself.
One day I caught forty bees in a hive under the eaves of my house, and told my youngest daughter, Eglantine, to wait under the eaves, and then I put the bees in a paper bag, and carried them two and a half miles, and then I opened the paper bag, and left them there, to see if any of them flew back.
To distinguish whether the bees that flew under my roof were the same ones I had thrown into the distance, I made white marks on the backs of the abandoned bees.
Inevitably, I got several stings on my hand in the process, but I kept at it, sometimes forgetting that I was in pain, and just pressed firmly against that bee to finish the job, which resulted in about twenty damages, and when I opened the paper bag, the bees that had been smothered for so long swarmed out and dispersed in all directions as if they were distinguishing which direction to go home in.
CHAPTER IX THE TUNNELING MINERAL BEES
Minerial bees are elongated bees that vary in size from larger than a wasp to smaller than a fly. But they share one ****ing feature, which is a distinctive groove at the base of its abdomen, which hides a stinger that can move back and forth along the groove to protect itself when it encounters aggression from an enemy.
I am going to talk here about one of the mining bees that has red markings. The markings of the female bee are beautiful and eye-catching, the slender abdomen being surrounded by black and brown stripes. As for its size, it is about the size of a wasp.
It tends to build its nests inside sturdy dirt, where there's no danger of collapse. For example, the flat pathway in our yard is the perfect foundation for their house. Every spring, they come in groups to this spot to set up camp. The number of wasps in each swarm varies, with the largest having almost hundreds of wasps. This place has become their metropolis.
Chapter X. The Glow
Among the various types of insects, few are capable of glowing. But one of them was famous for glowing. This rare little creature has what looks like a lamp hanging from its tail to express its good wishes for a happy life.
Even if we have never known it, never seen it fly over the grass in the dark of night, never seen it fall from the full moon.
Like a little bit of Mars, then, at least from its name, we can know more or less about it. In ancient times, the Greeks used to call it Bright Tail, a very graphic name. In modern times, scientists, on the other hand, have given it a new name, the firefly (Iamqyris).
Chapter XI The Tubed Worm
When spring comes, anyone with a pair of eyes that can see anything in the world will be able to spot one of the stranger little things in the broken walls and dusty highways, or in those open fields.
It was a small bundle of firewood that, for some reason, was able to move freely on its own, hopping forward in a single bound. What was inanimate became animate, and what would not move was actually able to jump. What on earth is going on here?
This is very rare indeed, and very strange. But if we look closer and more closely, we will soon be able to solve this mystery.
Chapter 12: The Cicada's Eggs
The common cicada prefers to lay its eggs on dry branches. It chooses the smallest branches, most of which are as big as between a dead blade of grass and a pencil. These twigs are seldom hanging down, usually upward and of the type that is almost dead.
When the cicadas find a suitably thin twig, they use a sharp tool on their chests to puncture it with rows of tiny holes that seem to go down diagonally with a needle. A dead branch is often pierced with thirty or forty holes. In these holes it lays its eggs, usually about ten in each, totaling * * * about three hundred or four hundred.
CHAPTER XIII THE WOODSWORTHER LEAF-BEE
If you take a walk in the garden, you will find that the leaves of the lilacs or roses are covered with delicate little holes, round or oval, as if they had been cut by some one who had been skillful in cutting them.
Some leaves have so many holes that eventually only the veins remain. Who did this to them? And why did they do it? Is it because it's tasty, or is it just fun? These things are done by woodcutter leaf wasps, who use their mouths as scissors and cut off small leaves by turning their eyes and bodies.
They do this not because they think it's delicious, nor because it's fun, but because the little leaves they cut are so important in their lives. They put these many little leaves together into little pin-hoop shaped pouches, which can store honey and eggs. Every woodcutter's nest has a dozen of these pouches, which overlap one on top of the other.
Chapter XIV Cotton and Fat-Picking Bees
We know that there are many bees like the woodcutter bee that do not build nests of their own, but only borrow nests that have been left behind or discarded by other animals for their own shelter. Some bees borrow the former homes of mason bees, some borrow the tunnels of earthworms or the empty shells of snails, some occupy the branches of trees where mining bees once roosted, and some move into the sand pits where digging bees once lived.
CHAPTER XV HOMEMADE SPANISH RHINOCEROS HEAD
I hope you remember the Sacred Beetle, which consumes its time making orbs that serve both as food and as the foundation of a pear-shaped nest.
I have already pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of this shape for the little beetle, for the round shape is the top shape that preserves the food so that it does not dry out or harden.
After observing the work of this beetle for a long time, I began to suspect that my instincts, which I have praised so highly, were perhaps misjudged by me. Do they really care for their little larvae, and prepare for them the softest and most suitable food?
CHAPTER XVI TWO RARE KINDS OF GRASSHOPPERS
The sea is the place where living creatures first appeared, and to this day there exist so many species of strange animals that it is impossible for men to count them or to distinguish between their exact kinds. These original models of the animal kingdom are preserved in the depths of the ocean. This is what we often say, the ocean is a priceless treasure trove for mankind, it is one of the most important conditions for the survival of mankind.
On land, however, the odd-shaped animals of yore are almost all extinct, and only a few remain, and most of those that have survived to the present day are of the insect variety. One of these is the praying mantis, of whose peculiar shape and habits I have already spoken to you in the preceding article. The other kind is the Embusha.
CHAPTER XVII THE WASP
One day in September my youngest son Paul and I ran out to see a wasp's nest.
Little Paul has a very good eye, and this, together with a special concentration, helped to make our observations well. We both took in the scenery lining the trail with interest.
Suddenly, Paul Jr. pointed a short distance away and shouted at me, "Look! A wasp's nest. Right over there, a wasp's nest, more than anything else!"
And sure enough, about twenty yards away, little Paul saw something that moved very fast, leaping up from the ground one by one, and immediately and swiftly flying away, as if there were tiny erupting craters hidden inside those bushes that were about to erupt, and were about to spew them out one by one.
CHAPTER XVIII THE ADVENTURES OF THE GRUBS
The area of the high embankment that surrounds the sandy soil of the Carpenras countryside is a favorite place for wasps and bees to visit. Why do they like this place so much?
The reason is mainly because this area is very sunny and it is also very easy to excavate, making it ideal for wasps and bees to settle in. There are two main types of bees that are particularly abundant in weather like this in May.
They are both mason bees, builders of one of the huts underground. In the case of one of these bees, they build at the entrance to their dwellings a bulwark for defense that they think is solid as gold - an earthen cylinder. It is left blank inside, and the whole tube is curved. The length and width of the cylinder was like that of a human finger.
CHAPTER XIX CRICKETS
The crickets that inhabit meadows are almost as famous as the cicadas. They are quite a good performer among the few exemplary insects that are counted. The main reason it is so famous is because of its shelter, and its excellent singing talent.
The possession of only one of these is not enough for them to achieve so much fame. An animal storyteller, La Fontaine, speaks only briefly about it, as if he had not noticed the genius and fame of this little animal.
Chapter XX The Petite Red-striped Bee
The thin waist, the delicate figure, the abdomen divided into two sections, the bottom large, the top small, the center seems to be connected with a thin line, the black belly above a red girdle around a trace of red: this is the Red-striped Bee.
The wasp's nest is built in loose soil that is very easy to burrow through. The sunlit mudflats on either side of the path, where the grass grows sparsely, are the wasp's ideal abode. In the spring, in early April, we can always find them in such places.
CHAPTER XXI SISIS
I hope you are not yet tired of hearing strange things about the beetles that make balls in the Clearway. I have told you about the sacred beetle and the rhinoceros head of Spain, and now I would like to tell you a little more about the other species of this animal. In the world of insects we have met many exemplary mothers; now just for fun, come and notice a good father!
Except among the higher animals, good fathers are rare. In this respect, birds are excellent, and man is best able to fulfill this duty. Among the lower animals the father is indifferent to the affairs of the family. Few insects are exceptions to this law.
CHAPTER XXII THE FLY-CATCHING BEE
You have learned how the ruddy striped bee and the wasp paralyze the caterpillar or the cricket to feed their young, and then how they close up their holes, and leave the nest to fly off elsewhere. Not every kind of bee lives this way, though, and now you're about to hear about another kind of bee that feeds its young with fresh food every day: the flycatcher bee.
This bee likes to choose the lightest and loosest soil for its nest in bright sunlight and blue skies. I sometimes observe them in a square with no shade. It is very hot, and the only way to avoid the scorching sun is to lie down behind a small mound of sand, burrow your head into a rabbit hole, or prepare a large umbrella for yourself.
CHAPTER XXIII PARASITES
In the months of August and September we should visit the bare, sun-scorched sides of mountain gorges, and let us look for a slope facing the sun, where it is often hot to the touch, for the sun has scorched it almost to death.
It is precisely such places, where the temperature is like that of a furnace, that are the object of our observation. For it is in such places that we can get a great deal. This hot area is often a happy place for wasps and bees.
They are often busy tending to their food in underground mounds - a pile of weevils, locusts or spiders here, a grouping of flies and caterpillars there, and others are storing honey in leather bags, earthen jars, cotton sacks, or urns made of leaves.
CHAPTER XXIV THE WORKERS OF METABOLISM
There are many insects which do extremely valuable work in the world, though they are never paid accordingly for it, and receive commensurate titles. When you approach a dead mole and see ants, beetles and flies gathering around it, you may get goosebumps all over your body and pull your legs out.
You must have thought they were all horrible and filthy insects, disgusting. This is not the case, they are busy doing their job of cleaning up the world. Let's observe a few of these flies, and we can see how what they are doing is good for human beings and good for the whole natural world.
CHAPTER XXV THE PINE CRAWL
In that garden of mine there are several pine trees planted. Every year caterpillars come to this pine trees to make their nests, and the pine leaves are almost eaten up by them. In order to protect our pines, I had to destroy their nests every winter with a long fork, which made me tired.
You greedy little caterpillar, it's not that I'm being unkind, it's that you're being too indulgent. If I don't get rid of you, you're going to make a racket. I will never again hear the pine trees, laden with needles, whispering in the wind.
CHAPTER XXVI THE COLLEAGE CABBAGE CIRCUIT
The cabbage is almost certainly the oldest of all our vegetables, and we know that it was eaten by people in ancient times.
And it was actually on the planet for a long, long time before humans started eating it, so we really have no way of knowing exactly when, exactly, it appeared, and when humans first grew them, and by what method. Botanists tell us that it started out as a wild plant with long stems and small leaves that grew on coastal cliffs.
History is reluctant to write much about such small things.
Chapter 27 The Peacock Moth
The peacock moth is a beautiful-looking moth. The largest of them comes from Europe, and is covered with reddish-brown downy hair, with a white bow tie around its neck, and its wings sprinkled with gray and brown dots.
Threaded across the center is a pale, jagged line with a grayish-white rim around the wings, and in the center is a large eye with a shiny black pupil and many colors encrusted into the eye-curtain, including curved lines of black, white, maroon, and purple. The moths are transformed from an extremely good-looking caterpillar, and their bodies are colored yellow with blue beads embedded in them. They live by eating apricot leaves.
CHAPTER XXVIII THE BEETLE THAT LOOKS FOR KURU MUSHROOMS
Let us now speak of the beetle that looks for mushrooms.
This is a beautiful beetle, small, black, with a white velvet belly, round in shape, like the kernel of a cherry, and when it rubs the edge of its wings against the belly, it makes a soft "chirping" sound, like that of a little bird when it sees its mother returning with food. The male beetle also has a beautiful horn on its head.
CHAPTER XXIX THE INSECT-LOVING CHILD
Nowadays, there are many people who always like to attribute to heredity the character, talents, hobbies, and so on, of all men. That is to say, they recognize that man and all animals derive their intelligence from their ancestors. I do not entirely agree with this view. I will now use my own story to prove that my hobby of loving insects was not inherited from any ancestor.
My maternal grandfather and grandmother never had the slightest interest or liking for insects. I don't know much about my maternal grandfather, I only know that he went through rather hard times.
CHAPTER XXX THE STRIPED SPIDER
Whoever it was, probably did not like winter. Many bugs hibernate during this season. But that doesn't mean you don't have anything with bugs to observe. This is the time of year when if an observer looks in the sand as far as the sun can reach, or moves rocks out of the ground, or searches through the woods, he can always find something very interesting that is a real work of art.
Those who are fortunate enough to appreciate this work of art are truly blessed. The joy of finding such a work of art at the end of the year makes me forget all my unhappiness and the climate which is getting worse every day.
If anyone searches the weeds or the willows, I bless him with a mystery: it is the nest of the striped spider. Just as it appears before my eyes.
CHAPTER XXXI THE WOLF SPIDER
The spider has a bad reputation: most people think it is a horrible animal, and want to stomp it to death as soon as they see it, and this may have something to do with the spider's hideous appearance. But a careful observer will know that it is a very hard worker, a talented weaver, a cunning hunter, and interesting in other ways.
So the spider is an animal worth studying, even if not from a scientific point of view. But everyone says it is poisonous, and that is its greatest crime, and the reason why everyone fears it. True, it does have two poisonous fangs that can instantly kill its prey.
CHAPTER XXXII THE CRUSH SPIDER
The Crusher Spider is an exceedingly clever and dexterous weaver, and as far as spiders go, the Crusher Spider is a beautiful one. It takes its name from one of the three ancient Greek goddesses of fate, the youngest, who was in charge of the spinning rod, and from whom the different fates of all things were spun.
Krushu spiders can spin the most exquisite silk for themselves, but the goddess Krushu can not spin a happy destiny and a comfortable life for us, which is really a matter of regret for the world!
Thirty-three chapters of the labyrinth spider
The spider is a weaver, and it uses its web to hunt the little insects that throw themselves into its web, so that it can "enjoy itself, and get it without any effort". There are many other kinds of spiders, they use many other clever ways to hunt for food, also can wait for the labor, a big harvest. Several of them are so accomplished in this respect that almost any book on insects lists them.
That is a black spider, also called by some the American tarantula, and they are burrow-dwellers, like the European tarantula of which I have spoken before. But their burrows are much more complete and fine than those of the European tarantula.
CHAPTER XXXIV THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SPIDER'S WEB
Garden spiders can be found even in the smallest gardens. They are counted among the gifted weavers.
If we take a walk at dusk, we can look for traces of spiders in a clump of rosemary. The spiders we watch tend to crawl slowly, so we should simply sit in a short bush and watch. There is more light there.
Let's add another title to the list, "arachnid watcher"! There are very few people in the world in this profession, and we don't expect to make any money from it.
CHAPTER XXXV THE GEOMETRY OF THE SPIDER
When we look at the web of the Garden Spider, and especially that of the Silk Spider and the Striped Spider, we find that it is not disorganized, but that the rays are evenly spaced, and that each pair of adjacent rays intersects at an angle; and that this rule applies to all kinds of spiders, although the number of rays varies in the different spiders.
We have already learned that the spider weaves its web in a peculiar manner, dividing it into equal parts, and that the same class of spiders takes the same number of parts.
CHAPTER XXXVI THE SPIDER'S TELEGRAPH WIRE
Of the six species of garden spiders, there are only two that usually rest in the center of their webs, and these are the striped spider and the silky spider. Even if they are scorched by the hot sun, they will never easily leave their webs to rest in the shade for a while. As for the other spiders, they do not appear during the day.
They have their own way of making work and rest mutually exclusive, and not far from their webs there is a place of concealment, made of leaves and threads. In this they hide during the day, in silence, and allow themselves to sink deep into contemplation.
This sunny day, though it makes the spiders dizzy, is also the time when the other insects are most active: the locusts hop more vigorously, and the dragonflies flutter more briskly.
Chapter 37: The Crab Spider
The striped spider, of which we spoke earlier, was a very industrious worker, and worked tirelessly to make a comfortable nest for its eggs. But later, it could no longer care for its home. Why? Because it was too short-lived. It will die when the first cold front arrives. And its eggs would not hatch until after the winter.
It had to leave its nest behind. If the young can be born while the mother is still alive, I'm sure the mother spider is no less attentive to her young than a bird. Another kind of spider proves my surmise; it is a spider that does not weave a web: it just waits for its prey to run close to it before it catches it, and it walks sideways, a little like a crab, hence the name crab spider.