RUN BY INSECTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 15 November 1924, Page 3

RUN BY INSECTS.

.'W-' ♦ : HIGHLY-ORGANISED TOW r NS. FROAI HERMIT TO CITIZEN! - When introducing Mr.! Gilbert fE" - Archey ,as the decturet on : ‘lnsect Communities at a recent meeting of Institute,; ;Rrofeesor.,H, VY.^- Segar; -the 'presideixf:;'' said it' was % Ssl dfis-- of the institute wipch r lie -had - noiv assisted at -he had mevep, seen; sthfe -subject discussed before, vyhich was rather remarkable seeing lts intense interest. ' ’ 'Duniati' beings ate, or should he essentially 4 ahimklk, ’' anti , a °b ? co-operation anXqn'g 4 mhld have.r'a certain interest -for us-,”; said Mf : .- Archey, in exp'laimfl| ;that hf^ : sh , edfte ,: show'his audience' lisuccessivei: steps, in the e 7? ll lti o P;'of tecreaising I 'degrees of Cooperation among insects, or in other words, the evolution.-of- social insects from solitary ones.’ 1 . This he'dhLih a. very vivid manner', and v to'those'whd had not .studied. ~ the; the . instanoes of organised, effort and distribution of labour iii the insect oommumties came as a startling suipribe, and oftem suggested; h-.parallel with'a city :-of; human; beingsl' ; )tnd'' so.me of . b a bits of the busy animals the lecturer . described and piotttred with the aid of yiews were wo-ndef-' telly intelligent,: if, ;nqt;freminisoent .of. our oivn ;habite—such,, fortihstanoe, Of the wasp that, after laying its egg, picked-iip-a Stone, and .need it to deliberately. pound down., with vvliicli ..it-.-, sealed; up; the ;mbtif'h.7<>f thfe ohamher, where the egg was : depbsited. No - wonder’ the - idea--• was ridiculed.' when it was first reported, as the lecturer .said, but half a dozen -separate scientists witnessed the queer little pavior at work. • . Even Soldiers.

. Insecfcsrexhibited a very high perfection of co-operatioii , said the lectunei*,: and they were deserving of study for thnqo'' i’eaKbns: ; First*.--'because they were; Nature’V most startling efforts of ' wmmuuail secorid/ most insect' Bocaejfcies were simpler. .than oust*; own, and wq s could study their origin arad, deve ; lopme:nt,, ; ;;and: sometimes their decay aSna' :/ the extent of .social orga-nisatiop possible on purely instructive line:MH^ : v.-iji human 7 (Society the family was bakis of insect society. Insect life" based upon-three, funda-' mental .. -insti-pefe—hfinger-, > &ex Jvhd fear. . Explaining the; last 1 of thin three., the lecturer; : pointed /out how it induced the'building* 'oftbtrqrig iintsts,, the' workere ’ having-''stjfeiig jaws ! andtoiifchv armour* r ' aintb sometimes there - ’ • .highly r .specialise(l tljfe> ipb yi a>n&' ! were; known'''as^sbldiers.? Of;:'th&'. thrtee, -hungerwas probably' this, most imporrbant, and brought about . mpdifioatipps ;of .the - other two. ..'-It' ! was nou ? .known tha/ social' rhabite had. : arisen in di^teril; group's of: insect’s—beetles, earwigs,' tennites \ (the' propeF. 'name Vfqr. v ‘.‘white wasps, tees'ancLaurtsX; I. v '.

Beginning of. Family Life

Mr. Archey took only tyro groups, beetles a)id wasps-v and. traced the'pror oess of ' evolution,: First ’ eanie the' sacried. ScaraiK'whicEbnade’a bail, of sheep dung* rolled- it into ‘ a■ 1 hole previously excavated, in .it laid, an egg, .which hatched" out’'a grub "that fed oii the inside of the bail-tit was born in, the mother leaving tlie egg as soon as she laid it. This beetle was a (Solitary individual, the female doing >-thp. jbaMl-ralling business on her own account,' hut in the case : of.: a smaller relative called the sisyphus beetle ;the .iunale -beetle helped- .the;- -cfo* maler to " the, of ' the' prepared” holes it '‘into; ithfe “oeEar,” 'and waited for - the ilady while she laid The egg, and then‘the pair ' departed to begin, the business over again. - A furtlijer stag o w.as reached with; where there was -cooperation iii preparing tijhe pellet, and .the7fefiiale*went one further by: dividing ittintpaix pellets, ini each of. Which she laid ail egg.,. Shej did' ‘not leave them, but remained on'guard; find kept the pellets .Tree;from, fuhgusgfor fom* mqnthsi while w devet^ ing/.. When- the young beetle ..hatched the mother, accompanied them “to the surface and the family dispersed. ti -• < iStrange. Hahitsl

Exaniples from the . life of the eopris lunar is beetle and the minotaur beetle were given, and the lecturer explained that* iii- all the . above cases . the larvae .was' provided from the. start’’ with a complete sufficient food supply, ah arrangement to which the name of ‘‘mass provisioning”, was /dn'/the of the passalus beetles ,a further def; veiopment was noted, and they feck the family by-pairtly ehewliigfup the wood of decayed tfiees, through which they tunneled, and' left a pulp' for the-chil-dren, which followed them . along the tunnels. That arrangement'whs called' “progressive provisioning,” which placed rthe parents in a. more direct and active relationship to their offspring, and marked an advance in family life. Mr Axehey went on to describe the habits of the tachigalia. beetle (British Guiana),-, which lived- in , hollow leaf stalks, ; Upon a certain part bt which the family lived. A peculiar habit of this beetle, was to stroke with their antennae the mealy bug that inhabited the same leaf'.stalk, and feed on the droplets of sweet honey dew that the bug exuded under this titilation-—and. tlier© was- very 'often -a scramble among the beetles.for the tit-bit. Another peculiarity of the tachigalia was that repiuduction went on throughout the whole season, and large families were mused. Lastly, Mr Arc-hey dealt with the ambrosia beetle, which definitely cultivated the food—a sort of fungus—required .fOr the family, and where all-members of J the' .community- took- a ' hand in ad r ministering ; to the needsyof -thb -infant members of .the growing community. The outstanding features of the development of the beetle were, first the change : from mass - provisioning ../to progressive provisioning, and, second, assumption of parental care, or, rather, of nursing;, the. junior, members of the teommuhity; "but ‘ "even then only the stage of gregarious ne ss h ad. been reached;: tbe/b^^tnqt/tehighly rorgaii-. TTondetful Wasps.

Mr.Ar.chy next turned his attention to the order hymenoplera, which included .wasps, bees, . and ants, long fameff|ffbr;,:hhfeiE/;ffirghly-:organisedk social habits/ Attention was called- to the, fapt/tha t, -while, bees- fed; their, hlt'their yqfijig"-with :a. carniyormis diet: of insects, ,spj,4er^,.-.'^X.* pastein afie) from two' examples’ of the waspi—-the Solitary and unsocial sphex, which dug a hole 111 the ground, went foraging until she found a caterpillar, dragged him to the bole alter stinging linn'into stupor, and laid her egg on its body, the larvae when hatched feeding on the caterpillar. Mr Archev pointed out that our own New Zealand native mason wasp (often wrongly called a mason bee) con-

structed an earthen, cell, which* it pro-; visioned with several spiders., • , Without taking the intermediate kinds ofi in detail —thei-r '.'development' being much the same as' that of the beetles—Mr Archey devoted more attention to'describing the home and habits of'the social wasp, the vespa. The female,’ which had' been fertilised by a male the previous autumn, and had spent the winter sleeping in some secure spot, would set to work to build a nest in the 'ground, the nest being formed of a paper which she made by masticating wood pulp. In that she laid several eggs, and foraged for the young grubs, feeding them on a paste until, they were full-grown. The offsuring, however,' did; not possess the power of reproduction, and were, in fact, sterile temates, which became the worker caste, and foraged for food. They: remained with the parent, who 110 longer went; foraging, hut confined her attention to - laying eggs—she was, in fact,v a- kind of queen. The workers enlarged the. nest, and spent their ti.me foraging. .'However, 1 as the summer wore on, and food became more abundant, certain specially-fed larvae- developed into females, which could lay unfertilised egg?, which developed into males. At the end of the season these females and males ‘mafed, and the females went off to fouiid other colonies. The - evolution of. the worker caste was an important ’evolutionary feature •iu the social wasps. It was brought about by the insufficiency of feed when were, developing,... and hy it we fouiid the colony-established as the progeny of one another, resulting, in ‘one nig social family community. Bees carried the organisation of the comtnunity to an even higher stage, and the' ants still further, until they developed a third caste of specialised, worker, called the soldier. At the close of the lecture the president moved a. hearty.vote of thanks, which was ca/rried by acclamation.