342 AFFECTION OF INSECTS fOIl TIIEIH YOUNG. 



even the pupae, nay the very eggs of these animals, are 

 not safe from their insidious manceuvres. The size of the 

 different species varies in proportion to that of the bo- 

 dies which are to be their food ; some being so incon- 

 ceivably small, that the egg of a butterfly not bigger than 

 a pin's head is of sufficient magnitude to nourish two of 

 them to maturity*; others so large, that the body of a 

 full-grown caterpillar is not more than enough for one. 

 They are the larvae of these Iclmeumons which make 

 such havoc of our pygmy tribes ; the perfect insect is a 

 four- winged fly, which takes no other food than a little 

 honey ; and the great object of the female is to discover 

 a proper nidus for her eggs. In search of this she is 

 in constant motion. Is the caterpillar of a butterfly or 

 moth the appropriate food for her young ? You see her 

 alight upon the plants where they are most usually to 

 be met with, run quickly over them, carefully examining 

 every leaf, and, having found the unfortunate object 

 pf her search, insert her sting into its flesh and there 

 deposit an egg. In vain her victim, as if conscious of 

 its fate, writhes its body, spits out an acid fluid, me- 

 naces with its tentacula, or brings into action the other 

 organs of defence with which it is provided. The ac- 

 tive Ichneumon braves every danger, and does not de- 

 sist, until her courage and address have ensured sub- 

 sistence for one of her future progeny. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, she discovers, by a sense the existence of which we 

 perceive, though we have no conception of its nature, 

 that she has been forestalled by some precursor of her 

 own tribe, that has already buried an egg in the cater- 

 pillar she is examining. In this case she leaves it, 



^ Bonnet, ii. 344. 



