NATURAL HISTORY. 501 



produced by the young ichneumons lying snugly under the skin. 

 Just as the caterpillar commences its change out come all the 

 ichneumons, looking like little white maggots, and immediately 

 each spins for itself a yellow oval case, frequently enveloping 

 the form of the now emaciated caterpillar. In a few days a 

 little hd on the top of each case is pushed open, and the perfect 

 flies issue forth, and immediately commence their own work of 

 destruction.* 1 



Family, Formicklre. (Lut. Formica, an Ant.) 

 FORMICA. 



Rufa (Lat. red), the Wood Ant. 



The remaining Hymenoptera are furnished with true stings, 

 that is, with stings to which is attached a poison apparatus, 

 like that belonging to the teeth of venomous snakes. 



The WOOD ANT is the largest of our British species. It is 

 found principally in woods, and builds a large nest, which looks 

 like a hillock of sand and earth, intermixed with bits of stick, 

 leaves, &c. The interior of this hill is chambered out into a va- 

 riety of apartments, and is traversed by passages. The so-called 

 ants' eggs are not eggs at all, but the pupa cases of the insect, 

 and if opened, the perfect insect is seen curled up inside. In 

 the autumn, the ants burst forth by thousands, and may be seen 

 hovering in clouds above the nest. Their beautiful wings do 



* I examined numbers of caterpillars in the course of dissection, and seldom found 

 them free from ichneumons I took out of one small goat caterpillar 137 of these in- 

 sidious destroyers. I found them useful auxiliaries in dissection, as they had usual- 

 ly consumed all the fat, leaving the important organs ready cleared. 



