376 



ARTICULATES : INSECTS. 



Fig. 277. 



sects, depositing their eggs in the eggs, larvae, or pupae, 

 upon which the young feed when hatched. Those genera 

 which have the ovipositor short deposit their eggs in ex- 

 posed larvae, while those which are provided with longer 

 ones penetrate into holes and under bark ; and for this 

 end some species have the ovipositors two or three times 

 the length of the body. Ichneumons prey especially upon 



the Lepidoptera, and it is 

 thus that those destructive 

 insects are held somewhat 

 in check. When the eggs 

 are laid upon the surface 

 of the larvae, the parasites, 

 as soon as hatched, eat 

 their way into their victim. 

 When deposited inside, the 

 young ichneumons feed on 

 the tissues of the body, 

 gradually consuming its 

 life, till the parasite goes 

 into the pupa state, and 

 the insect dies. There 

 may be only one ichneu- 

 mon thus feeding within, or many of them, which at 

 length fill the inside of the body with little cocoons 

 placed vertically next to one another. Some ichneu- 

 mons do not destroy their victim in the larva state, but 

 allow it to become a pupa in the body of which they 

 undergo their transformations, and come forth perfect 

 insects. Most of the insects of this family spin a silken 

 cocoon ; and these cocoons are sometimes found in a 

 mass together enveloped in a general covering of glossy 

 silk. 



EVANIALES, Latr. This Family contains parasitical 

 insects which have the abdomen attached by a peduncle, 



Ichneumon, Pimpla lunator, Fabr., ovipos- 

 iting in holes bored by Tremex. 



