LONDON INSECTS 89 



The specimen dissected was. kept alive for some little 

 time by Dr. Sandwith, then Colonial Secretary in the 

 Mauritius, and an extremely interesting letter from 

 him is published with Professor Owen's paper. He 

 describes the animal tapping the surface of the worm- 

 eaten boughs put into his cage, * with ears bent forward 

 and nose close to the bark,' and poking his slender 

 finger every now and then into the worm-holes ' as a 

 surgeon would probe,' and when he had made up his 

 mind where to begin, rapidly tearing off the bark, cut- 

 ting into the wood, and ' daintily picking the Grub out 

 of its bed with the slender finger and conveying the 

 luscious morsel to his mouth.' A sketch of the hands 

 of the Aye-Aye, taken by permission from one of the 

 pictures of the living animals drawn by Mr. Wolf for 

 the Royal Zoological Society, is given as vignette at the 

 end of the chapter. One of the dainty dishes of the 

 Romans is said to have been made of wood-eating 

 Caterpillars. 



Though the Grubs in Kensington Gardens have no- 

 thing to fear from Aye- Ayes or human epicures, they 

 have enemies at least as formidable in the very next 

 order of Insects which we come to after leaving the 

 Moths and Butterflies. 



Of the Hymenoptera, one of the most important 

 divisions consists of the Ichneumons and other flies 

 like them, which lay their eggs in the bodies of living 

 Caterpillars. 



More than one of the Ichneumon-flies is armed with 

 a long, sharp, springy, ' ovi-positor,' as it is called, 



