Window-box Allotment by Penelope Bennett

Author:Penelope Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI

As caterpillars proved to be so unexpectedly absorbing, I thought I might as well get to know some of the other window-box creatures; there is bound to be some assistant-gardener insect observing one’s activities. To know just the minimum amount transforms them from enemies into what they are: extraordinary insects. For example, the so-called common wasp is probably the greatest of the insect architects and builders. Using chewed wood pulp, which turns into paper, it builds its spherical Baroque-style nest. Its colleague the potter wasp uses soft mud when constructing its jar-shaped nest.

Another favourite insect is the furry, striped, wasp imitator, the stingless hoverfly. It can remain motionless, suspended in mid-air or, with the acceleration of a sports car, fly backwards, forwards or sideways, even when it is windy.

Woodlice are more interesting than they appear. They ‘wear’ their skeletons, called exoskeletons, on the outside of their bodies.

Snails are also not only to be looked down upon. Their slow-motion mating is enviably sensuous.

If you have made yourself a small pond (for instructions see pages 55–6), you might encounter gnats. They will become less irritating when you know that they lay their eggs on the surface of the water in groups which resemble a raft. When the larvae hatch, they hang upside down in the water, breathing air through a siphon. (Mycetophila fungorum gnats emit a light, not to assist fellow gnats in finding their way but to lure other insects into their silken traps.)

There are more different species of insect than all the different kinds of mammals, fish, birds and reptiles put together – well over a million. However, the reader of this book will be relieved to know that, for the time being, only two freshwater favourites will be mentioned.

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