Habits of PimpldW^$M^ 4 ! 7 



u I could not ascertain whether they stung the larvae or 

 not. Some caterpillars required more stabbing than others. 

 One which received three stabs died in a few hours ; another, 

 half an inch long, died in about ten minutes ; while one which I 

 stabbed with a pin was as merry as ever four days afterwards." 



So far Mr. Lewis, whose facts offer another striking pe- 

 culiarity in the extraordinary economy of the parasitic Hy- 

 menoptera. Hitherto it has been considered that the little 

 nutriment taken by ichneumons in the perfect state consisted 

 merely of the nectar of flowers: hence it is that so many 

 are observed upon the blossoms of plants, especially upon 

 those of umbelliferous plants ; and, indeed, from Mr. Lewis's 

 statement, it appears that his ichneumon would occasionally 

 resort to nectar and sugar. With the exception of the wasp, 

 which may often be observed feeding upon the meat hanging 

 in butchers' shops, and the ants, which will skeletonise a 

 small animal in a very short time, no hymenopterous insect, 

 to the best of my recollection, has hitherto been observed to 

 be carnivorous. a en n0 * B8( b ^ V3L ^ n9fiw :<1b1 



The power of stinging has been denied to the ichneumons 

 and other hymenopterous insects of the section Terebrantia 

 of Latreille. They appear to me, however, to possess this 

 power to a certain degree ; since, although they do not sting 

 so painfully as the bees and wasps, yet the general construc- 

 tion of the ovipositor being perfectly similar to that of the 

 sting of the aculeate tribes, enables them to inflict a wound ; 

 and, from experience, I can state that irritation has followed 

 the puncture. * It may, indeed, be said that this irritation was 

 merely produced by the wound, and was not the effect of 

 the poison ; but Mr. Lewis's statement proves that, in the 

 instance of the larvae of the leaf-rollers, poison must have 

 been injected. 



Respecting the manner in which the egg is excluded in 

 hymenopterous insects, on which subject no decided observ- 

 ations have been recorded, Mr. Lewis informs me that the 

 egg passes down the central dart of the ovipositor, which is 

 gradually dilated as the egg passes, the two external sheaths 

 being detached; that its passage is caused by the alternate 



motion of the two internal spicula, which are enclosed in the 

 .Ion won {iv.ili(n c jjho sin to- nTTia edi b^xiy* t i9fl gruJteaqu 



* I may add, that a few days ago, while collecting in Richmond Pkrky \ 

 a small-sized ichneumon fell upon my face, close to the corner of my eye t 

 from a branch of an oak tree which I was beating. The lids instinctively 

 closed in an instant, catching the intruder by his leg, which so annoyed 

 him that, for self-defence, he stung me in the eyelid, and I felt the effects 

 for an hour afterwards ; sufficiently long to show, regard being had to his 

 size, that the wound was irritated by poison. nfojfid ffoirfw ,2S£3 ll9dJ 



Vol. VI. — No. 35. e e 



