34 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ICHNEUMONS; 



WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN SBXES OF 

 TWO SPECIES. 



By John B. Bridgman. 



With what intense disgust are these lively and elegant 

 insects generally looked upon by lepidopterists. How many 

 look back with regret on the fine, rare n)olhs they might have 

 bred but for those "nasty" ichneumons, which, in most cases, 

 are unforlunalely immediately destroyed — a practice that is 

 deeply to be regretted. If lepidopterists could be induced to 

 save such ichneumons as they breed, and make a note of the 

 species from which they were bred, a large amount of useful 

 knowledge would be gained that is now quite thrown away, 

 for no one has the same opportunity of making such valuable 

 notes as the breeder of butterflies and moths. 



I think it is a great pity that more of our working entomo- 

 logists do not take to some of the less beaten paths of 

 Entomology than Lepidopiera and Coleoptera; none are less 

 devoid of interest, and many are more replete with it. Take, 

 for example, the insects named at the head of this paper, and 

 think for a moment of the important part they play in main- 

 taining the balance of Nature; think of the enormous quantities 

 of larvae that are annually destroyed by ichneumons, which 

 thus become valuable helps in keeping their numbers within 

 bounds. It is not only the larvae of Lepidopiera that are 

 attacked, but those of sawflies, gallflies, flies, and beetles, are 

 also destroyed. We cannot but admire the variety of forms 

 that are met with. The majority are exceedingly graceful : 

 their slender antennae, which seem ever on the move; the 

 colours of their bodies and legs are very pleasing, — black, 

 red, yellow, and white, in almost every possible arrangement. 

 The aculeus, or ovipositor, also varies exceedingly in length, 

 size, and direction ; in some it is considerably longer than 

 the whole body,, as in Rhyssa^ Ghjpta, &c. ; and this is very 

 necessary for these insects, which deposit their eggs in wood- 

 boring larvse, such as the great sawfly (Sire.v). From this 

 elongated ovipositor every variation in length is to be found; 

 some, indeed, have it not protruded at all : this is the case in 

 many of the genus Ichneumon and Tryphon. Others have it 

 quite straight, as in the genus Cryptus, those elegant Ichneu- 

 mons which have the first segment of the abdomen peliolated, 



