A NEW INSECT. 403 



a direct and not very strong liglit; but when the liglit is allowed 

 to fall upon them sideways, they flash out into all sorts <A' 

 colours. So great, indeed, is the variety of colour, that it is 

 almost impossible to fix on any one here as predominating. 

 Perhaps a ruddy copper may be considered as the ground 

 colour, and upon it are patches of crimson, azure, purple, and 

 gold, each patch shifting its colour together with the direction 

 of the liglit. 



These colours are rendered more intense by tlie structure (it 

 the wings, which are not flat and smooth like those of most 

 Ichneumons, but covered with little crumples. In fact, when 

 viewed with a magnifying-glass, the surface of the wings pre- 

 sents just the same appearance as does a sheet of paper when it 

 li;is been rolled into a ball and then flattened out arroin 



C "-^V'W/J -i' ret- 



Fig. 19S.— Ospryucliot.us o)ijurg.it(>r 

 (Black; winj;s inauy-coloured.) 



This species comes from the Congo, and fortunately some of 

 its habits are known. It is parasitic upon the solitary bee 

 called Eumeiics tindor, one of the burrowing bees. In the 

 British Museum there is a fine group of these nests, the burrows 

 being sunk into a piece of clay. And from that group of nests 

 was hatched the specimen whose portrait is given above. 



The remarkable insect which is shown on page 404 has not 

 been described, although the authorities of the British Museum 

 have placed it in its proper genus. 



The body is shining black, with a few white marks on the 

 edges of the abdomen near the base. The wings are brown, 

 ]) 1) 2 



