142 Black-game 



Professor Poulton, to whom I applied for information, very kindly 

 wrote : " . . . . but their real enemies are insect parasites, 

 both hymenopterous and dipterous, laying their eggs in the living 

 larvae." 



I cannot help extending my sympathy to the caterpillars. 

 The trade of the Ichneumon, however necessary it may be for 

 Nature's purposes, seems a peculiarly nasty one. 



The female deposits her egg in the living larva. This hatches 

 and feeds upon its host, carefully avoiding vital parts, so that the 

 unfortunate animal goes on assimilating food for the benefit of the 

 parasite dweUing within him. 



It is pleasant to think that the parasite is sometimes preyed 

 upon by another parasite. " Wheels within wheels," as Mr. Sam 

 Weller sagely remarked on one occasion. The first Ichneumon 

 deposits its eggs in the caterpillar ; the second Ichneumon, coming 

 along and noticing, perhaps, the abnormal rotundity of the unwilling 

 host, pierces both the host and the contained parasite with her 

 ovipositor, and deposits her egg in the body of the latter. The 

 primary host does not benefit at all by the proceeding, but one 

 imagines that a thoughtful caterpillar must feel a certain amount 

 of satisfaction at the educational process parasite number one is 

 undergoing. 



Returning to the Black-game and the food they did eat ; we 

 found a very considerable variety of plants — blaeberry, heather, 

 plantain, berries of the mountain ash, etc., etc. I won't bother 

 you with a detailed list, but only draw your attention to the 

 two articles of food which were found in practically every crop 

 in large numbers : 



1. A small dark brown beetle. 



2. White wafer-like bodies, which I took to be some kind 



of seed. This " seed " was ivory white in colour, circular 

 in shape, and in size very comparable to the confetti 

 used at weddings. Further, they were plano-convex, 

 one side fiat and the other swollen or bulging. 



I was quite ignorant as to the plant to which the " seeds " 

 belonged, and equally ignorant of the name and habits of the beetle. 

 I therefore sent the " seeds " on to Kew, and the beetles I bottled in 

 formaline, and in due course forwarded them to Commander Walker 

 for identification. Pending the arrival of the Kew report, I indulged 

 in some deductive logic, and evolved a theory ! 



Since all the crops of the Black-game contained numbers of 

 " seed " and beetles, both these must exist in quantity ; and it 

 seemed a reasonable inference that the one was in close proximity to 

 the other ; and that both were gathered at the same time. 



An umbelliferous plant with its long, hollow stem and crown of 

 radiating seed-vessels, would exactly fill my requirements. 



The beetles would have taken up their winter quarters in the 



