93 



Head small, dark orange-coloured. Eyes large, black, and oblong. Ocelli shining brown. Antennae 

 nearly the length of the insect, brown orange, and resembling threads. All the other parts of the insect 

 are of the same brown orange, except the wings, which are transparent. Thorax short. Abdomen 

 three times as long as the thorax, very small at the base, like a thread, but increasing in deptii (not in 

 thickness) to the extremity, where it appears square and even as if obliquely cut off; arched from the 

 base to the tip. Legs slender, the hinder ones being the longest. Tips of the tibi;e with two long 

 spines, those of the fore legs having only one. 



This insect very closely resembles the common English species Ichneumon luteus, Linn. 

 It is, however, considerably larger. 



After describing this insect our author took occasion to enter into the natural history 

 of the family to which it belongs, namely, the Ichneumonidse, so named from the Linnsean 

 genus Ichneumon, which last he says, " appears to be taken from its nature and way of life." 

 He then proceeds as follows : — 



" It is generally known that butterflies are produced from caterpillars, and that these 

 caterpillars put on different forms before they arrive to that of the butterfly ; but few per- 

 sons know, who have not engaged in this study, that the bodies of these caterpillars are 

 receptacles or habitations for lesser insects, that live and grow within them during a cer- 

 tain time ; where they are nourished and fed by the juices of their bowels, till they arrive 

 to a mature age ; when, by the appointment of nature, they kill their fosterers, being 

 totally unable to live on any other kind of food but what the intestines of these animals 

 supply them with. The uses and advantages accruing to mankind by the institution of 

 such a genus of insects, together with their natural history, are the subject of the following 

 lines. 



" If we examine the glorious works of the creation, and reflect on the paternal care 

 and wisdom of the Almighty, displayed in the preservation and increase of all ranks and 

 kinds of animals ; that even the most direful and noxious, have such a proportion in the 

 scale of life, as is most agreeable to the ends of His di\-ine providence; that the limits He 

 hath prescribed to each, extend so far and no farther ; and that each species shall multiply 

 in such abundance or scarcity, as are best adapted to preserve, by a just equilibrium, the 

 harmony of the universe : When, I say, we behold this, the mind can scarcely forbear 

 crying out, under a rapturous sense of conviction, " every thing is good." It is to this 

 end we see the strong are permitted to prey on the weak ; and that the number of the lat- 

 ter increase in a proportion suflUcient to supply the wants of the former ; it is to this end 

 we see some feed on herbs and plants, some on fruits and seeds, and some on flesh ; each 

 being furnished with appetites and powers, suited to their respective ways of life : and it is 

 to this end, we see those of the most minute kinds, abounding in a degree far beyond those 

 of the first magnitude. The knowledge of the insect kingdom illustrates this observation 

 beyond all possibility of doubt; and the number that may be bred from a single pair, in 

 many species, would exceed all credibility, if it was not to be proved by any person who 



