﻿hasten to remove themselves to a distance, as the latter comes 

 to a point. In this case they are again followed up, and the per- 

 formance may be repeated several times. In some cases through 

 too great deliberation in attack the prey is entirely lost, as it 

 moves away into concealment and the parasite fails to (rare it 

 up. Deliberate as it often is in making the attack, yet, when 

 made, the stroke is marvelously rapid. So quickly indeed are 

 the front legs thrown out and withdrawn that the hopper, which 

 just now was at a distance, in an instant appears contiguous to 

 the parasite, as if attracted by some unseen force. One pair of 

 pincers usually grips the neck of the prey the other frequently 

 clasps the pair of hind legs in the neighborhood of their long 

 jumping spurs, or the abdomen towards the apex. If the hop- 

 per is unusually large and strong compared with its enemy, it 

 not rarely manages to make its leap, and both fall to the ground 

 together. Never however was the latter seen to relinquish 

 its hold on the former. Its prey firmly secured and frequently 

 held more or less crosswise to itself, the parasite now curls 

 round the abdomen and thrusts its sting into the side of the hop- 

 per, beneath one of the wing lobes in the case of Echihrodcl- 

 phax, and in various other positions in the case of other para- 

 sites, and the egg is deposited. The laying of the egg is again 

 a very deliberate undertaking and the sting may remain inserted 

 for a couple of minutes or more. Finally the sting is withdrawn, 

 the front leg that grasps the hopper's neck is extended, the 

 chelae or pincers fly open and the hopper is sometimes roughly 

 jerked to a distance, sometimes more gently deposited on the 

 plant. While grasping the hopper and inserting the sting, the 

 parasite has been seen in some cases to freely use its mandibles 

 on the neck in process of malaxation. After the operation, the 

 victim usually appears weak and dazed, sometimes even lying 

 inert on the ground, but sooner or later and sometimes very 

 quickly, it recovers and starts feeding as if nothing had happen- 

 ed. Occasionally after capture, the prey is released without be- 

 ing stung, and it is probable that hoppers so released have al- 

 ready been stung by an earlier captor. Under unnatural con- 

 ditions, such as in the confinement of a small jar or glass tube, 

 and probably under pressure of hunger, the hoppers are fre- 

 quently killed outright, and to some extent devoured. The posi- 

 tion of insertion of the sting is apparently not always the same, 

 this being sometimes inserted beneath the wing-lobe, and some- 

 times in the ventral side of the body, but the larval sac in either 

 case appears beneath the wing-lobe. After the egg has been 



