95 



tinue thereon till they have emitted them aU ; which sometimes is more than an hundred. 

 It is necessary to observe, that many caterpillars of moths and butterflies (the former more 

 especially) are infested by a particular species of these Ichneumons, that confine themselves 

 entirelv to them alone, and never, that we know of, attack any other. Thus that of the 

 Privet Hawk or Sphinx Ligustri of Linnaeus, that of the Elephant Hawk or Sphinx Elpenor 

 of the same author, &c. are always found to yield particular kinds of Ichneumons. Others, 

 indeed, attack any kind of caterpillar belonging to the farinaceous-winged tribe ; and, as I 

 observed above, if not too powerful and strong for them, Avill there deposit their eggs. 



" If the egg is laid on the body of the caterpillar, and not within it, a few days, by the 

 warmth of the sun, ripens it to maturity ; and then the young destroyer, directed by nature, 

 eats its passage through the under-side of the egg, and passes into the body of the cater- 

 pillar, but if the egg is discharged into its body, it there ripens, unseen, to maturity. In 

 either case, it lives on the substance or juices of its intestines ; thriving and increasing in 

 bulk, in a proportion equal to the creature it is doomed to kill. The caterpillar, also, not- 

 withstanding its having thus received the means of a slow but certain death, increases in size, 

 and, to outward appearance, in health ; arrivmg to the period when it is to undergo its 

 metamorphosis, and become a Chrysalis, in as much strength and vigour as any other of the 

 species : but when the time arrives for its enlargement into its complete state, and to become 

 a moth or butterfly, the Ichneumon makes its appearance ; having arrived to its time of 

 completion within the body of its supporter, and exhausted its juices by the nourishment 

 drawn from it, leaving behind it a dry empty shell, in the form of a chrysalis. 



" In this manner many of these Ichneumons exist. Others, when arrived to maturity, 

 having lived within the bodies of the caterpillars, as described, eat their way out through its 

 sides, and, crawling to a small distance, form round themselves cases of a substance like 

 silk ; wherein, having lain a few days, they quit their prisons in the shape of very small 

 flies, some havang two wings, others four." — Vide Goedartius, Albin, Wilks, Harris, &c. 



POLISTES ANNULARIS. 



Plate XLIII. fig. 6. 



Okder: Hymenoptera. Section: Diploptera. Family: Vespidse, Leach. 



Genus. Polistes, Fabr. Vespa, Lin7i. Drury. 



PoLisTES Annularis. Fusca; genubus, antennarum apicibus marginequo primi segmenti abdominis flavis. 



(Long. Corp. 1 unc.) 

 Syn. Vespa annularis, Linn. Syst. Nat.}. 2. 950. 9. Faljr. Syst. Piez. 271. 3. (Polistes a.) 



Vespa cincta, Drury, App. vol. 2. 

 Habitat : Virginia (Drury). 



Head dark brown colour, like the rust of iron. Antennae shorter than the thorax ; dark br(jvvn, 

 yellow at the tips. Thorax dark brown, with a black stripe on each side. Wings extending beyond the 

 abdomen, thin, membranaceous, and dark brown, not perfectly transparent, and doubled or folded 



