186 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



adopts. Settling herself quietly down on the back of the caterpillar, near 

 the terminal segments, with her head towards the caterpillar's head, she 

 paused awhile ; then with a sudden movement of her ovipositor, so quickly 

 that the motion almost escaped detection, she thrust an egg under the skin 

 of her victim. The caterpillar seemed startled, and quivering, jerked its 

 head and anterior segments suddenly about, and then quieted again ; the 

 little tormentor meanwhile sitting perfectly composed on the spot where 

 she first settled. Presently another thrust was made, followed by further 

 uneasy movements of the larva, and in this manner, in the course of a 

 very few minutes, quite a number of eggs were deposited. The caterpillar 

 did not seem to be conscious of the cause of its troubles, nor, indeed, of 

 the presence of its enemy, excepting when the thrusts with the ovipositor 

 were made. On drawing a little nearer for the purpose of better observ- 

 ing this interesting operation, the tiny creature took alarm and flew off. 

 Further examination revealed the presence of several more of these little 

 friends, busily searching for further specimens to operate on. The eggs 

 deposited soon hatch into little grubs, which eventually devour the body 

 of their victim, and after it has entered the chrysalis state, eat small holes 

 through the chrysalis, and thus make their escape. It has long been an 

 unsettled point among Entomologists as to whether this parasite operates 

 on her victim in the larval or chrysalis state, the weight of opinion being 

 hitherto in favor of the view that the chrysalis is pierced and the eggs 

 deposited in it ; but from the observations here detailed it would appear 

 that the eggs are usually, if not invariably, placed in the nearly full-grown 

 larva. 



At the same time I observed an insect belonging to the true bug 

 family, Hemiptera, with its proboscis thrust into one of the same cater- 

 pillars, quietly sucking out its contents, the half-emptied victim vainly 

 endeavoring to escape. As this bug was immature, I was unable to deter- 

 mine the species to which it belonged ; it is pleasing, however, to know 

 that there are several friendly helpers among the insect tribes aiding man 

 in his efforts to subdue this obnoxious insect. 



The Codling Moth of the apple is less abundant than usual this year, 

 a scarcity which may be attributed to the early hatching of the moths 

 during the very warm days of spring, and many of them perishing before 

 the blossoms of the apple were sufficiently far advanced for them to 

 operate on. Attention has been called again to the curious fact already 

 noted in Europe many years ago, that the larva of this insect is sometimes 



