580 Insects. 



All kinds of Wasps make curious nests; some attach 

 them to the beams of a barn or other building, or place 

 them in the hollow of a large tree, but the common Wasp 

 digs a hole in the ground. Wasps do not construct 

 their combs with quite the same care and accuracy as 

 the bee ; nevertheless, their nests are often very in- 

 geniously made, and the material employed by most of 

 them is curious, being a sort of paper or card made from 

 fibres of wood masticated between the jaws of the 

 insects. As they do not lay up a store of honey for their 

 support during winter, they mostly die at that season ; 

 and the few that live remain in a torpid state till spring. 

 Their sting is very large ; and the poisonous liquor of 

 it, when introduced into the human body, excites inflam- 

 mation and creates very considerable pain. 



THE ICHNEUMON FLY. (Pimpla persuasoria.) 

 THE mouth of this insect has jaws, but no sucking tongue. 

 The antenna contain more than thirty joints ; and the 

 abdomen is joined to the body by a slender pedicle. The 

 ovipositor is enclosed in a cylindrical sheath, composed 

 of two valves. 



One distinguishing and striking characteristic of all 

 the species of this kind of fly is the almost continual 

 agitation of their antennae. The name of Ichneumon has 

 been applied to them from the service they do us by 

 destroying caterpillars, plant-lice, and other insects as 



