26 ICHXKUMONS. 



for our benefit, after caterpillars in the egg as well as in 

 maturity. 



But the extensive value of ichneumons, as a check upon 

 caterpillar depredation, may be best estimated by their numbers, 

 of which we may form a tolerable notion when we hear of above 

 1,300 species'* in Europe only, some so minute "that the egg 

 of a butterfly is sufficient for the support of two [individuals] 

 until they reach maturity; others so large that the body of a 

 full-grown caterpillar does not more than suffice for one."t 



Aristotle is said to have first applied the name of Ichneumon 

 to the wasp ; and certain wasps there are, betwixt whom and 

 ichneumon-flies, properly so called, there is not a pin to choose, 

 as regards their prying parasitic habits. The ichneumons 

 belong also to the same order (that of Hymenoptera) as wasps 

 and bees ; both, spite of their relationship, among the objects 

 of their treacherous attack. 



Of this distant kinship there are outward traces in the four 

 transparent wings, and in the slight wasp-like attachment of 

 the ichneumon's breast and abdomen, also in its prevailing 

 colours of black and orange ; but the ichneumon, whether a 

 dwarf or a giant of its family, has a figure of such peculiar cut 

 as to make it easy enough, when acquainted with one, to recog- 

 nize a hundred of his name. AVe may know them by their long 

 narrow bodies, so convenient for prying and poking into holes 

 and corners, as well as by their long, flexible, jointed horns, 



* ' Naturalist's Library. t Kirby and Spence, Introduction. 



