146 PIMPLINE ICHNEUMONIDAE 



while skirting a wood — the very finest conifers of the Black 

 Forest flourish in this locality — I happened to pause beside a pile 

 of small pine logs, and as I stood there one of these extraordinary 

 insects appeared and settled on one of the logs. I will quote 

 verbatim from my notes written the same day: — 'It sat still for 

 some time, and then began to walk about, feeling every hole 

 and (p. 21) corner in the rough bark with its long antennae. 

 After a minute or two of this it stopped, and drew up its long 

 body, doubling the long black ovipositor underneath itself; 

 it had to hitch itself up several times before it got the long needle 

 into position underneath, with the tip in a crevice. Then it 

 gripped the bark with its claws and gradually thrust the ovipositor 

 about half an inch into the bark, then suddenly flew away, per- 

 haps because it had completed laying the eggs, perhaps because 

 I had gone too close. . . . 



"Immediately after, I made the rough sketches of the beast 

 which accompany this note. These are probably a little larger 

 than life, although the insect was a very large one. I noted that 

 the abdomen was black and white, the legs pale, and the antennae 

 black. 



"At the time I was unaware of the insect's identity, but on 

 seeing the specimens of Rhyssa exhibited at the Natural History 

 Museum this year, I at once recognized my old acquaintance, 

 and comparison of the other species of the genus in the cabinet 

 collections there leaves little, if any doubt, that this was R. 

 persuasoria. 



"The figures will help to indicate the manner in which the 

 insect succeeded in bringing its unwieldy ovipositor to bear on 

 the log. As mentioned above, these were drawn before I left 

 the spot (with the exception of the second, which I have added 

 now to make the action clearer), and they are reproduced without 

 any change from my original rough drawings. As the insect 

 had already taken its departure, they are necessarily crude, as 

 it was the only example of its kind on which I had ever set eyes. 

 For this and for their obvious artistic defects I shall make no 

 further apology, as they are merely intended to convey the 

 manner in which the insect accomplished its object." 



Sharp ^^ figures (after Riley) the allied genus Thalessa (now 



'^ Cambridge Natural History, Insects, pt. i, p. 554, 1895. 



