OPERATIVE TOOLS. 329 



that " no human workman could construct one so small,, fine, 

 exquisitely polished, and fitting so exactly/" 7 is a tool used for 

 a purpose something similar to the last, that, namely, of 

 cutting grooves of a particular description in woody branches 

 for reception of insect eggs. The carpenter, or carpeu tress, 

 which owns it, is the female Tree-hopper, or Cicada, who thus 

 cuts the branches, while her mate " bursts the very shrubs " by 

 his shrilly music. Our " cuckoo-spit " is an allied insect ; but 

 in England has been found as yet only one Cicada* which re- 

 sembles that possessed of this admirable tool. In the large 

 dead specimens, now easily procurable from China, its exami- 

 nation is not difficult. 



Our next more simple instrument is an awl, or piercer, 

 which issues from a sheath, in form of a curved needle. It is 

 the piercing ovipositor the wonder-working wand of a fairy 

 Gall-fly, and, though a great deal longer than the insect's 

 body, is, by a mechanical contrivance, nicely adapted to it. 

 Its base near the tail, it follows the bend of the back, " makes 

 a turn at the breast, and then, following the curve of the belly, 

 appears again near where it originates." 



We have here another borer, or brad-awl, defended by a 

 sheath, which opens lengthwise, like a pair of compasses. 

 The awl itself is single, nearly three inches long, and terminates, 

 not in a simple, but a serrated point. This is the instrument 

 of that large common ichneumon, t which, for deposit of her 



; C. Anglica, found by Mr. Dale, afterwards by Curtis, in the Ne\v Forest, 

 f Fimphi manifestator. 



