4 1 4 British parasitic Hymetwptera : — 



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 Art. VIIL Further Notices of the British parasitic Hymenop- 

 terous Insects ; together with the " Transactions of a Fty with a 

 long Tail" observed by Mr. E. W. Lewis ; and additional Ob- 

 servations. By J. O. Westwood, Esq. F.L.S. &c. 

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"Chalk and cheese;" you know the rest. If you will 

 have popular bits of natural history, you shall have technical 

 descriptions, at least, of remarkable insects. Mr. E. W. Lewis, 

 of Chelsea, whose communication, in the fourth number of the 

 E?itomological Magazine, p. 422., entitles him to the rank of 

 a very ingenious observer of nature, has transmitted to me 

 the result of a series of observations upon the natural history 

 of an ichneumon, which appears to me to be not inapplicable 

 as a prelude to a continuation [from p. 123.] of my descrip- 

 tions of some interesting forms among the minute parasitic 

 Hymenoptera. Mr. Lewis's communication is as follows : — 

 " On the 28th of September, 1832, I observed an ichneumon 

 flying about a lilac tree in our garden, great numbers of the 

 leaves of which were rolled up by the larvae of a leaf-rolling 

 moth. After it had alighted, I observed that it thrust its 

 long ovipositor into a rolled leaf, drawing it up and down, 

 and working it about in all directions ; evidently, as it seemed 

 to me, with some other intention than that of laying its' eggs 

 in the enclosed caterpillar, which was not larger than itself; 

 arid, in a few moments, it succeeded in driving it out. This 

 extraordinary behaviour attracted my attention ; since, if its 

 sole object had been to lay eggs in it, it would not have acted 

 thus. I therefore caught the ichneumon, and placed it under 

 a tumbler, together with a caterpillar, almost dead, which 

 happened to be in the leaf I put in with it. A short time 

 afterwards, the ichneumon began eating the caterpillar; and 

 soon ate nearly half of it, at the same time moving about its 

 head and palpi very quickly. The next morning, I furnished 

 it with several caterpillars, closely rolled up in a leaf; when 

 it immediately began walking over the leaf, with its antennae 

 bent and intensely vibrating, apparently with the intention of 

 finding some place through which it might easily introduce 

 its ovipositor. Having found a place which had been half 

 eaten through, it directly introduced its ovipositor, moving it 

 about as before; and, having found out where the larva was, 

 it withdrew it; and, taking its station upon the edge '■' A^e 

 leaf, with its antennae arched, the tips between the folds of 

 the leaf, plunged the ovipositor in again, and succeeded in 

 driving out a caterpillar, which was immediately pounced 



