Zoology. 



8^ 



^'mercies are over all his works." Yours, &c. — Juvenis. Edmonton, 

 November 25. 1831. 



Trichiosoma lucdruniy the Pupa and Imago of, a Habitat of, and the 

 destruction of by one of the \chneum6nidce . — Sir, I find that the author of 

 Insect Architecture has passed by unnoticed the curious follicle formed by 

 the caterpillar of the Trichiosoma lucorum ; I therefore beg to furnish you 

 with the following facts respecting it : — My little boy, being very fond 

 of prying into the manners and customs of insects, brought home last 

 autumn several cones or follicles containing the pupae of the above species. 

 These he found on a hawthorn fence in Southwell Road, situate a few 

 hundred yards from Brazen Doors, in the south-west side of Norwich ; 

 and they were enclosed in a paper box, and remained in my study during 

 the past winter. To my surprise, on the 24th of April, 1831, my daughter 

 informed me that her brother had confined two bees in his box ; which, 

 on examination, proved to be two specimens of imagos of the above- 

 named species, that had changed from their pupa state, and escaped 

 from their follicles. This they had effected by working a transverse 

 groove in the inner surface of the follicle, with the strong mandibles 

 with which they are furnished j and, getting one of these through, they 

 cut the follicle nearly all round as if with a pair of shears, and this 

 done made egress readily. These curious follicles or cones (see^g. 34.) 

 34 ik^^ are formed of the 



insect'sglutenand 

 of the contiguous 

 leaves of the haw- 

 thorn, which grow 

 in tufts on the 

 young twigs : se- 

 veral cones in my 

 possession have 

 the exterior leaves 

 entire. My curio- 

 sity induced me 

 to open one of 

 the cones or fol- 

 licles, which pro- 

 ved of so tough a 

 texture, that a 

 penknife entered 

 it with consideir- 

 able difficulty. 



The inside of 

 the follicle had a 

 perfectly smooth, 

 I may say a po- 

 lished, surface ; 

 the outside had a 

 fibrous appear- 

 ance from the tex- 

 ture of the leafy 

 material out of 



which the cone or follicle is constructed, and possibly also, in part, 

 from the agglutinated hairs of the larva. These cones, thus constructed, 

 must completely screen the insects from the observation of their larger 

 enemies ; but they have others to fear of a smaller kind. The Zchneiimon 

 [which species ?] deposits her eggs in the caterpillar or larva, which car- 

 ries them with it into its pupa state ; and these eggs of the /chneiimon, 

 are themselves afterwards hatched into caterpillars that eat up the insect 



Or 3 



