102 Rev. Mr, KirbvV Continuation of the 



hinted before, that there are not lefs than three Ichneumons attached 

 to it. If Providence for wife ends has created fo deftruftive an in- 

 fed, it has been no lefs attentive to prevent it from becoming too 

 numerous, by making it the food of fo many other infe<Sls. 



Upon the feventh of June I obferved a very minute Ichneumon 

 exceedingly bufy upon the ears of wheat, w^hich at firfl: I took for 

 Ichneumon Tipula {r) ; but upon a clofer examination I found it to be 

 a fpecies entirely ,diftin£t (i), as will appear when I come to defcribe 

 it. K% foon as I was convinced of this, and obferved that it pierced 

 the florets at a time when no larva; had made their appearance, I 

 conjcfturcd that it mufl: lay its eggs in the eggs of the Tipula, How 

 far this conjedlure was well or ill founded muft be determined by 

 future obfervations, as I do not think I have colledled fafts fuffi- 

 cient to decide the queftion. This infedl is furnifhed with an acu- 

 leus three or four times its own length (f), which is finer than a 

 hair and nearly as flexile : this is commonly concealed within the 

 abdomen, but when the animal is engaged in laying its eggs it is 

 exerted : one day it gave me a full opportunity of examining this 

 procefs. It inferts its aculcus between the valvules of the corolla 

 near the top of the floret ; its antennas are then nearly doubled and 

 motionlefs, its thorax is elevated, and its head and abdomen de- 

 preffed : the latter, when it withdraws the aculeus, is moved fre- 

 quently from fide to fide before it can extricate it. This infeft has 

 allowed me to examine its operations under a lens for fix or feven 

 minutes : upon opening the floret into which it had introduced its 

 iicu/eus, I could find neither egg nor larva of the Tipula; but, upon 

 examining it very clofely under three glafles, I difcovered, fcattered 

 over one of the valvules of the corolla, a number of globular eggs 



{>■) Linn. Trail/. Iv. p. 226. Tab. iv. fig. 8. (i) Tig. 4- (') F'g- 5- ^• 



9 extremely 



