NOTE ON THE OVIPOSITION OF RHYSSA. ea | 
corner in the rough bark with its long antenne. After a minute 
or two of this it stopped, and drew up its long body, doubling the 
long black ovipositor underneath itself; it had to hitch itself up 
- several times before it got the long needle into position under- 
neath, with the tip in a crevice. Then it gripped the bark with 
its claws and gradually thrust the ovipositor about half an inch 
into the bark, then suddenly flew away, perhaps because it 
completed laying the eggs, perhaps because I had gone too 
Glose.s aye: ie 
Immediately after, I made the rough sketches of the beast 
which accompany this note. These are probably a little larger 
than life, although the insect was a very large one. I noted 
that the abdomen was black and white, the legs pale, and the 
antenne black. 
EXPLANATION OF FicureEs (diagrammatic).—1. The insect reconnoitring 
the bark with its antenne. 2. Getting the ovipositor into position. 3. The 
insect just before flying away; the ovipositor thrust home in a crevice. 
(Sketched from life.) 
At the time I was unaware of the insect’s identity, but on 
seeing the specimens of Rhyssa exhibited at the Natural History 
Museum this year, I at once recognised my old acquaintance, 
and comparison of the other species of the genus in the cabinet 
collections there leaves little, if any, doubt that this was 
R. persuasoria. 
The figures will help to indicate the manner in which the 
insect succeeded in bringing its unwieldy ovipositor to bear on 
the log. As mentioned above, these were drawn before I left the 
spot (with the exception of the second, which I have added now 
to make the action clearer), and they are reproduced without 
any change from my original rough drawings. As the insect 
