178 INSECTS. 



The head in the Cynipidse is small, the thorax thick 

 and oval. The abdomen, largest towards base and egg- 

 shaped, is sometimes (but not always) much compressed, 

 and is attached to the thorax by a stalk, which is in 

 most cases very short. The antennas are slender in the 

 male, less so in the female (let it be observed that the 

 absence of the male is remarked in the genus Cynips, 

 not in the whole family of the Cynipidse), and the legs 

 are of moderate length. The wings vary, and are very 

 long in some species; they have but few veins. The 

 female deposits her eggs either singly, or many together, 

 of which the two large oak-galls are examples ; the larger, 

 found on full-grown trees, containing many inhabitants, 

 while the round smooth hard Gall, lately described, con- 

 tains but one. 



We now come to the true Spiculiferous parasites. 



The first family, Evaniidse, contains one of the 

 most whimsically proportioned insects in the whole 

 order. Evania appendigaster, supposed to be para- 

 sitic upon the small Cockroach. This little insect 

 has an enormous thorax, a smallish head, long legs 

 (especially the hinder pair), and an abdomen so small 

 that it seems impossible that it should belong to the 

 insect. 



This family contains but three British genera, and 

 only about half a dozen species. It may easily be dis- 

 tinguished from the following by the attachment of the 

 abdomen to the thorax, not at the apex of the latter, but 

 from its upper side, giving it the appearance of springing 

 out of the insect's back. 



The next family, Ichneumonidse, is far more numerous, 

 containing about 120 genera, and more than 1100 species. 

 It includes all the Ichneumon flies of large size, with the 



