58 



INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



nest of the mason wasp. But although the insect 

 appeared not to be disturbed by my observations, yet 

 1 was unable to perceive whether the toothed portion 

 of the borer was pushed beyond the sides of the sheath. 

 What I did see, however, convinced me that the in- 

 strinnent was worked in a manner well adapted to 

 make its way through the mortar; for she turned it 

 half round akernately from right to lefl and from left 

 to right, as a carpenter would his brad-awl, and 

 employed altogether more than a quarter of an hour 

 before she succeeded in penetrating to a sufficient 

 depth.'* 



Ichneumon flies ovipositing, a «, an ichneumon fly. h b, its 

 ovipositor, f, an ichneumon, which has just bored through the 

 closed substance of a sand wasp's nest at < , into which her ovi- 

 positor, ft, descends to tlie coil of caterpillars aty, where the 

 egg is laid. 



t Rr'aumur, Mem. 



304. 



