Good words and phrases from Insects!

If I take away the little rooms of the bamboo wasps, I can observe the homes of the digger wasps. In some of the small rooms reside insects in the process of growth. There are also some small rooms filled with larvae of digger bees. There were also some small rooms, most of which hid an egg-shaped shell. This shell is divided into several sections and has breathing holes protruding from it. This shell is exceptionally thin and also brittle and very fragile. It is amber in color and very transparent. Thus, from the outside, it can be clearly seen that there is a fully developed bee mite struggling inside, as if extremely eager to be free and hoping to be liberated from it soon.

So what exactly is this very peculiar shell? It doesn't look much like the shell of a particular type of beetle. How did this parasite, how did it get inside this hive?

From its location, it is simply not invasive. Moreover, if you look closely with a magnifying glass, you can't see any traces of damage. After three long years of thorough and careful observation, I finally searched for answers to these questions. Thus, I have added the strangest and most interesting pages to my record of the life history of insects. Here are some of the results of my research.

The bee mite, even in its full development, has but a day or two to live, and its whole life is spent at the door of the digging bee. And this short life, except to reproduce offspring; the rest is nothing.

The bee mite has all the digestive organs of other animals, but does it eat food? I doubt it. For the female beetle, her only desire is to give birth to her young. When this is done, she will die of old age and leave this world with peace of mind. What about the males? After a day or two of lying on the ground in such a burrow, they, too, die. This also provides an answer to the question of why there are so many inexplicable corpses hanging from the cobwebs next to the bee's residence. Their origin is now known.

At first sight, one would surely think that this beetle, when it lays its eggs, must go through all the little rooms, room by room, and lay an egg on every bee larva. But this was not the case; in the course of my observations I had searched carefully inside the tunnels of the bees, and finally found that the bee mite laid all its eggs only inside the doorway of the hive, accumulating them in a heap almost one to two inches away from the doorway. These eggs were all white in color, and their shape was egg-shaped. They are all small in size, and stick gently to each other. As for how many of them there are, for the time being count them as more than two thousand a ****, which I don't think is too high an estimate.

It is a fact that, contrary to what anyone is bound to imagine about it, they do not lay their eggs inside the hive, but simply within the doorway of the bees' dwelling, and in small heaps. Not only this, but their mothers do not reserve anything for their protection, nor do they think of defending them against the cold of winter, nor do they close the door of this aperture for them, in order to defend them against the thousands of enemies who come to invade, attack, and injure them. In short their mothers, after having given birth to them, cast them away and leave them to make their way alone in the world. The reason for this is that before the cold of winter comes, this tunnel, with its open mouth, is trampled by spiders and other more ferocious invaders, and is overrun by them, so that the poor eggs become a tasty meal for the invaders.

In order to see more clearly and carefully, I put a number of eggs in a box. When, about September, they had not yet hatched, I imagined that they would at once run away and look around for the little room of the digging bees. However, the facts told me that I was completely wrong in my estimation. The swarm of young grubs-tiny black animals, not quite one twenty-fifth of an inch long-were surprisingly unable to make use of them, although they possessed strong, sturdy legs. Instead of running and scattering, they got along in a very confused manner, and lived mixed up with the shed egg-shells. So I deliberately and quietly placed a lump of earth with the hive in front of them to see what action they would take, but it was to no avail, and did not tempt the little creatures to move one iota. If I had acted to force a few of them to move away a little, they would at once have run back again, and continued to hide in the other companions, with whom they mingled and lived.

Finally, during the winter, I ran away to the wilds of the Carpentras, and went there to observe the places where the digger bees lived. I wanted to ascertain by such observations whether the larvae of the bee mites were still in their natural state the same, i.e., after hatching, instead of living scattered, they lived intermingled together. Is it the same or not? Yes, exactly the same. What happens in the wild is really exactly the same as what happens in my little box. I see the larvae of those bee mites in the wild similarly accumulating in piles and also living mixed with their egg cases.

Until now, I have not been able to answer the question: how do the bee mites get into the bee's little room? And how do they get into another kind of shell that doesn't belong to them?

Second, the first adventure

After observing the appearance of the young bee mites, I could immediately sense that their habits must be very special and interesting.

After careful observation, I realized that it is very difficult to make a bee mite move gently on a very flat surface. Where the larvae of bee mites live, it is clear that they run a certain risk of falling down. What can be done to guard against this danger? This problem is easily solved for the bee mite larvae. For they are born with a pair of large, very powerful gills, curved and sharp; they are also born with strong legs, and claws that become capable of movement; they also grow a great deal of stiff hairs and sharp needles; and they are born with a pair of hard spikes, with sharp and very hard points, shaped and looking like a kind of plough-head, which can be driven firmly into any smooth earth. And that is not all. In addition to the organs mentioned above, it can also spit out a very sticky liquid, even if nothing else exists, this liquid alone can be tightly stuck to it, so as not to slip down. It can be seen that its self-protection ability is very strong.

I have repeatedly racked my brain, thinking hard to think of a question, what kind of factors exist, so that these young grubs decided to live here? But I couldn't come up with an answer. So, I was only very eagerly waiting for nature's climate to warm up as soon as possible, so that I could quickly find the answer.

Toward the end of April, the grubs that I had confined to their cage had been lying still, sleeping in the sponge-like pile of eggshells. Now it was different; they were suddenly active. At first they crawled about in the box in which they had spent the severe winter. Their hurried movements, and their tireless energy, showed that they seemed to be seeking something that they desperately needed. It seems that these things are naturally their food. For, the larvae of these bee mites were hatched at the end of September, and have continued until now, the end of April. Although they were always in a state of numbness, it was almost seven full months that they did not acquire a little something nutritious to strengthen their bodies. From the time of hatching, although these small animals are "elves" with life, but it is as if they are destined to be sentenced to seven months of imprisonment, can not do anything, can only maintain a posture.

At the same time, when I saw them all so excited and full of passion, I naturally guessed that the reason that drove these living creatures to work so hard must be hunger, and only hunger can make them instinctively go out of their way to work hard.

These little creatures, hurrying in search of food, really need nothing more than the food stored in the hive. Is there any reason why this can be said? Because it is in these hives that we find those bee mites in the later stages of the process. Now these stores are not only limited to the larvae of the bees for consumption, but also for the bee mites to share.

What I'm offering them is hives with honeybee larvae hidden inside. I even put the bee mites directly inside the hive. In short, I utilize all sorts of things and employ all sorts of methods in the hope of whetting their appetites. But, in truth, my efforts remained fruitless at all. So, I purposely used a method that utilized honey for trial and error. I spent most of the month of May trying to locate the hive where the nectar was stored.

Having found the hive I had hoped for, I took the larvae of the bees in it, and then put the larvae of the bee mites into the honey stored in the hive. Yet again the fact struck me. There was simply no other experiment that failed more severely than this one. The larvae simply didn't bother to eat or drink the nectar, and even worse, they instead got so stuck on the sticky stuff that they were smothered in it, which was so unexpected!

So, with great disappointment, I said, "I have provided you with readymade bee-roosts, larvae, and nectar; is not this enough! Are you not satisfied? So, what is it that you ugly little things need?"

Eventually, though, I found out what they really needed. Turns out, they don't need anything special. They were asking the digger bees themselves to bring them to the edge of the hive.

As I mentioned earlier, by the time April rolls around, a bunch of the larvae that live inside the door of the hive are starting to show a little bit of activity, and they're moving around. After only a few days, they had stopped staying in that place. What very strange little creatures. They clung to the hairs of the bees firmly, without letting go, and were taken out into the wild, even to faraway places.

When the digger bee passes through the doorway of the hive, whether it is going out, or has just returned from a long journey, the larvae of the bee mites, which are sleeping at the doorway, and which have been waiting for a long time, at once climb on to the body of the bee. They crawl inside the down of the digger bee and hold on so tightly that no matter how far away the digger bee has to fly, they are not at all concerned that they are in danger of falling to the ground. For they hold on too tightly. Their only object in adopting this method is to take advantage of the strong body of the bee to carry them to the nests which are rich in nectar.

When a man first discovers this circumstance, he must have thought that the little risk-loving larvae might have to seek some food on the body of the bee first. But this is not the case; the larva of the bee mite lies crouched inside the bee's fine downy hairs, at right angles to the bee's body. Its head faces in, but its tail faces out, and it stays close to the bee's shoulder. Once they have chosen their spot, they no longer move around randomly. If, indeed, they were planning to eat something on the bee's body, then they should have been running around here and there to find out which part was the freshest. However, this is not the case. They are always fixated on the bee and the hardest part, usually near the underside of the bee's wings, and sometimes on the bee's head. After they have climbed on a hair, they do not move. Therefore, it seems to me that facts are always facts, and are not subject to the will of man. The reason why these little beetles are so attached to the body of the bee is that their purpose is simply to get the bee to carry them to the hive which is about to be built.

The would-be parasite, however, has to hold on to its host's hairs for dear life while in flight. No matter how fast the bee is flying through the foliage, or how hard it rubs as it makes its way to the hive, or even when it is cleaning its body with its feet, the little larva must hold on very tightly in order to be safe.

Not so long ago we used to wonder what it was that made the larvae of the bee mite cling to the body of the bee. The answer is now known: it is the fluff that grows on the bee.

Now we can see what the two large spikes that grow on the bee mite are used for. When they come together, they can grip the hairs on the bee's body so tightly that they are much more precise than the pliers of the most sophisticated man-made ones.

At the same time, we can see the value of all that mucus. It helps this little creature to crouch more firmly on the bee's body. And, we can also learn about the role of the sharp needles and stiff hairs that grow on the larva's feet. They are both used to insert themselves into the soft hairs of the bee, making its own position more secure.

The more we think about these "constituent devices", which seem to be useless when the larva crawls on a flat surface, the more we feel amazed by these "machines". How marvelous it is that this tender little creature should be able to make use of so many appliances to prevent it from falling from the body of the bee as it ventures out into the great dry world!

III THE SECOND ADVENTURE

On the twenty-first day of May I went to Carpentras to see the doorway which the bee-mite makes when it enters the hive.

This work was not easy to do, and required every effort to accomplish. There was a swarm of bees on the vast ground in the field, and as if stimulated by daylight, they were dancing wildly about over there. Just as I was observing their movements with a dazzled eye, suddenly a monotonous and kobold clamor resounded in the midst of the frenzied swarm. Then, as swift as lightning, the digger bees darted up and went about in search of food. Meanwhile, another swarm of thousands of bees is flying home. They were either carrying nectar that had already been harvested, or bringing back the soil used to build their hives.

By that time, I had acquired some knowledge of these insects and learned something about their habits. I thought that whoever intruded into their swarms, whether intentionally or unintentionally, or just lightly touched their dwellings, then it would immediately be killed by the furious stinging of thousands of cones. Once I went to observe the hive of a bumblebee, and, being so near, at once a shiver of fear arose, a sensation which I really cannot forget for the rest of my life!

And yet, however difficult it might be, to know what I longed to know, I had to get into one of these terrible swarms of bees, and, moreover, had to stand there for several hours, and, if necessary, for a whole day. I must stare at their work, unblinking, with my magnifying glass in my hand, and stand motionless in their midst, observing what sort of things will happen in the hive. At the same time, face-coverings, gloves, etc., and all other kinds of covering and protection were out of the question, for the reason that my fingers and eyes must be completely unprotected. All the rest of everything else was disregarded, and even when I left the hive with my face stung to the point of being unrecognizable, I could not bring any kind of covering.

That day, I decided it was time to tackle the problem that had been bothering me for so long.

I caught a couple of digger bees with my net, which was surprisingly satisfying. For these bees were inhabited by the larvae of bee mites, just as I had always hoped.

I buttoned up my shirt first and then, burst into the center of this swarm of bees. I took a hoe and hoed a few times, then removed a piece of mud. What surprised me greatly was that I was not attacked or hurt at all.

On my second start, it took a little longer than the first, but still the same result. I wasn't hurt at all, and none of the bees used their sharp needles to sting me a bit. After this, I had nothing to worry or fear. I then ventured to remain in front of the hive for a long time, uncovering the earth, taking out the honey inside, and driving away the bees therein. In the process, it never caused anything more frightening than that clamor. Why? This is mainly because digger bees are rather peace-loving creatures. Whenever the interior of their nest is disturbed, they will immediately leave their old home, move location, and take refuge in some other place. Even when they are a little injured at times, they do not use their sharp needles, and only use them a little when they are caught.

I have to give this mason bee credit for his lack of courage, though. Although I didn't put up the slightest defense, I was actually able to sit quietly on a rock in the midst of these noisy swarms of bees and casually watch their nests for hours at a time without being stung with a single needle. At this time, some country people passed by the place and saw me actually sitting quietly in the midst of the swarm. So they asked me if I had put some kind of magic on them.

That's how I observed a lot of bee hives. Some of these hives were still open and more or less stocked with nectar. There were also some hives that had been covered up with dirt. And what was inside was very different. At times I saw the larvae of bees; at other times I saw slightly fatter larvae of other species; and at other times I could see an egg floating on the surface of the nectar. This egg was of a very beautiful white color, it was cylindrical and slightly curved, and nearly two-fifths or one-sixth of an inch in length, and this was the egg of the digger bee.

In a few small chambers I saw the eggs of this insect floating on the surface of the honey, and in many others I saw more of the grubs of the young bee-mite, which lay in ambush on the eggs of the bees, as if on a sort of raft. It is the same shape and size as when it first hatched, and in this hive of bees the enemy has lain at home.

When and by what means did it enter? In many of the little rooms, after careful observation, I could not find the slightest crevice through which they could have broken in. As they were all very tightly closed, I presumed that the parasite must have entered before the door of the honey storehouse was closed. But, on the other hand, I saw that the small room in which the door had not been closed was full of honey, but I found no eggs floating there, and no larvae of the bee mite had ever lodged in it. So, these larvae must have gotten in when the bees were laying eggs, or later when the bees sealed the door. I have concluded from my little experience that the larvae must have entered the small room at the moment when the bees were laying their eggs on the honey.

If I take a small room filled with honey, with an egg floating on the surface; then take a few larvae of bee mites, and put them together inside a glass cover for observation. They seldom, however, get inside the hive, nor can they get on to the "raft" without trouble! The honey surrounding the raft seems too dangerous for them. Even if one or two larvae happen to come near the lake, they will try to escape from this dangerous place as soon as they see the sticky stuff, or wade into it. However, there are often some unlucky larvae that fall into the nests of the bees and are unlucky enough to be smothered to death. So we can conclude from this that the larvae of the bee mite will never leave the hairs of the bee, and are especially firmly attached to the body of the bee when it is in or near a small room. This is because the slightest contact with the surface of the honey can cause the tender little larva to suffocate and die.

We must keep this in mind, that the young bee mites are found in small closed chambers, and that they must stay on top of the bee's egg. This tiny egg not only serves as a safe raft for the tiny creature so that it can float in this terrible, untrustworthy lake of honey, but also, this tiny egg becomes the first delicious meal for the larva.

However, to reach this raft floating in the center of the honey lake, and which will become its food, the bee mite's tiny grub must avoid contact with the honey. Otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable. There was only one alternative available to reach its goal and make it happen. This clever little larva, taking advantage of the fact that the bee was still laying an egg, slipped from its body to that egg in one swift movement. In this way the purpose was accomplished. The larva then joined the egg as a companion and **** floated on the honey together. Because this egg laid by the bee is too small to carry more than one larva at a time. Therefore, we can only see the larvae of one bee mite inside a hive.

This behavior of the larvae of the bee mite seems to us humans as if it is unusually spiritual. But if we continue to study insects, they will provide us with many more such inspiring examples.

It may be said that when the bee lays its eggs, and places them on the nectar, it at the same time places the larvae of the bee mite, their little natural enemy, with them in the little room, and then it has to seal the door of the little room very carefully with earth. So, everything that needed to be done by it was done. Then, the second little room is made next to the first one. It probably had to go through the same process as the previous one. And so it goes on and on and on. It has to go on until the parasites hidden in the bee's fluff have all settled down, and that's the end of it.

Now, let us leave behind this actually somewhat distressed mother, whatever fruitless work she is doing, and turn our attention for a moment to the larvae of these bee mites which in a clever way end up getting board, and see how it reacts to our experiment.

Let's think for a moment about what is going to happen if we once take the lid off a larva with a bee mite on top of a small room.

The eggs are still perfectly intact, not damaged at all. But the good times didn't last long. Soon after, the destruction of the bee mite larvae began. We could observe the larva running towards a white egg with small black dots on it. Finally, it suddenly stops, and since it has six legs, it can stop its body very firmly. Then, using the sharp hooks of its large gills, it bit down on the thin skin of the egg, and, with all its strength, pulled violently until the egg was broken. Then all the contents of the egg flowed out. The victorious larva was so pleased with this that it immediately and happily consumed it. The first time in its life that this tiny parasite used the sharp hooks of its thighs turned out to be when it was pulling through the bee's eggs.

The larva of the bee mite is so naturally clever! To come up with such a marvelous method. Using this ingenious method, the larva can do whatever it wants in the small room of the hive where it is parasitized, without any care. It can enjoy the nectar as much as it likes. This is because, during the hatching process, the larva of the bee also needs nectar for its nourishment, but what little is absorbed by the egg during the hatching process cannot be made available later for both to enjoy together. So as long as the larvae of the bee mite are pulling on the egg skin as fast and as hard as they can, the better. In this way, the difficulty of "too much for too few" does not exist.