268 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 



rum) ; and even while in the egg state (Ich. Ovulorum, 

 L a .) ; but not, as far as is known, in perfect insects. The 

 eggs thus deposited soon hatch into grubs, which imme- 

 diately attack their victim, and in the end ensure its 

 destruction. The number of eggs committed to each 

 individual varies according to its size, and that of the 

 grubs which are to spring from them ; being in most 

 cases one only, but in others amounting to some hun- 

 dreds. 



From the observations hitherto made by entomolo- 

 gists, the great body of the Ichneumon tribe is principally 

 employed in keeping within their proper limits the in- 

 finite host of lepidopterous larvae, destroying, however, 

 many insects of other orders ; and perhaps if the larvae 

 of these last fell equally under our observation with those 

 of the former, we might discover that few exist un in- 

 fested by their appropriate parasite. Such is the activity 

 and address of the Ichneumonidans, and their minute 

 allies (Pupivora, Latr.), that scarcely any concealment, 

 except perhaps the waters, can secure their prey from 

 them ; and neither bulk, courage, nor ferocity avail to 

 terrify them from effecting their purpose. They attack 

 the ruthless spider in his toils ; they discover the retreat 

 of the little bee, that for safety bores deep into timber ; 

 and though its enemy Ichneumon cannot enter its cell, 

 by means of her long ovipositor 13 she reaches the helpless 

 grub, which its parent vainly thought secured from every 

 foe, and deposits in it an egg, which produces a larva 



Not having had it in my power to consult Dalman's work on the 

 Chalcidites of Latreille, referred to by that learned Entomologist in 

 his Families Naturelles du JRegnc Animal, I am not able to refer them 

 to their proper genera. b PLATE XVI. FIG. 1. 



