42 THE LARGE WOOD WASP. 
of a deep yellow hue, having the thorax and a band round the 
abdomen jet black. The wings and antenne are yellow, the latter 
being of very great length: the long pointed weapon, commonly 
looked upon as a sting, is the instrument with which the female 
bores holes in living wood, in which to deposit her eggs. There 
is an interesting account of this process, in Science Gossip for 
August, written by a gentleman who watched it, waiting with a 
true naturalist’s patience for twenty-three minutes while a lady 
Sirex deposited her eggs in a new larch telegraph post. This 
ovipositor is of a complicated nature when examined under the 
microscope, but not so much so as that of some of the true sawflies. 
. The insect is able to give a slight wound with the weapon, irritant 
in its nature, but not envenomed. The eggs hatch into grubs 
which feed upon the soft moist wood, and doubtless when present 
in any considerable numbers, they do much damage. Many are 
imported from abroad, both in the larva and pupa state, in deal, 
and from this in due time, they escape as winged inhabitants of 
air. When this happens in a nursery, we may excuse the alarm 
of the non-naturalist nurse and her progeny. We have caught 
them ourselves among the fir trees in Whittington Park. 
*,.* We are indebted for the accompanying engraving to Mr. Harpwicxz, of 
192, Piccadilly. 
‘Some folks have a great liking for the poor little Efts. They 
never did anybody any harm, or could if they tried; and their 
only fault is, that they dono good—-any more than some thousands 
of their betters. But what with ducks, and what with pike, and 
what with sticklebacks, and what with water-beetles, and what 
with naughty boys, they are ‘‘sae sair hadden doun,” as the 
Scotsmen say, that it is a wonder how they live; and some folks 
can’t help hoping, with good Bishop Butler, that they may have 
another chance, to make things fair and even, somewhere, some- 
when, somehow.—Rev. 0. Kinastey.—‘t Water Babies.” 
