NATURE STUDY. 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 



Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences. 



Vol. III. October, 1902. No. 5. 



A Common Tragedy. 



BY WALTER S. ABBOTT. 



In the accompanying picture is shown what appears to 

 be a case of very righteous judgment, sent upon an evil- 

 doer. The chrysalis is that of the larva of the Black 

 Swallow-Tail {Papilio polyxc?ies) , and the evil-doer is one 

 of the larger ichneumon-flies — probably of the genus 

 Ophion. 



Sometime last fall a specimen of the larva of this butter- 

 fly was found, placed in a breeding cage and fed, with the 

 expectation that in the spring a butterfly would emerge, 

 to be mounted and placed in the collection of the Manches- 

 ter Institute. But "man proposes," etc., and never was 

 shown more clearly the force of the old injunction, slight- 

 ly modified, " Don't count your butterflies before they are 

 hatched." For, instead of a beautiful butterfly with vel- 

 vety black wings, there appeared what is seen in the pic- 

 ture. 



Although at first it might seem as if there were some 

 magic in this change from a butterfly to this creature, 

 whose head can be seen protruding from the side of the 



