184 PROTECTION AGAINST INSECTS. 



an inch long, of which Tcleplwrus fnscus is a common 

 brown species. They usually feed on other insects, but that 

 species and T. obscurm, L., have been observed sucking 5 15- 

 year-old shoots of oak and Scots pine, which then turn black 

 and die. 



Their larvae are also carnivorous, feeding on earth-worms and 

 ground insects ; they pass the winter in the earth, or under 

 stones, and during thaws sometimes come out on the snow. 

 They pupate in the spring. 



The Cleridae are small, cylindrical, hairy beetles, with very 

 short serrate antennae, somewhat thickened at the ends. Tarsi 

 with 4 5 joints. Abdomen of six segments. Larvae long, and 

 generally rose-coloured, with horny head, 6-legged. The beetles 

 pair in the spring, and the eggs are laid in the bark of trees, 

 under which the larvae live. New beetles appear in the 

 autumn. 



The larvae and beetles hunt the grubs of bark-beetles in their 

 borings, and also eat dead animal substances. 



ClerusformicariuSj'Li., is the best known species, and its larvae 

 are frequently found in the borings of Myelopldlm piniperda, L., 

 and the beetle may be frequently seen in the forest running 

 about over heap'fe of firewood and felled trunks. It is gaily 

 coloured, black, with the greater part of the thorax and the 

 base of the elytra red, the latter also crossed by two white 

 bands. The species is locally common in conifer-woods in 

 Great Britain, and is the most important insect-enemy to 

 Scolytidae we possess. 



ORDER II. HYMENOPTERA. 



1. Ichneumonidae.* 



Certain allied families, such as the Braconidae, Chalcididae, 

 and Pterojnalidae, are included in this description. In this 

 book these insects are termed ichneumon-wasps to avoid con- 

 fusion with certain parasitic flies (Tachinae) of similar habits 

 belonging to the order of Diptera. 



Imagos of various sizes, long and slender. Head with three 

 ocelli. Antennae generally slender, rarely clubbed, and with 



* For a complete account of German ichneumons, ride Taschenberg (Die, 

 Hvmenopteren Deutschlands), Leipzig, 1866, % 



