CLEAR WINGS. 37 



Next to Gallflies come Ichneumons ; 

 Insect parasites we call them, 

 For the grubs or footless maggots, 

 From which come the fly Ichneumons, 

 Live concealed ■svithin the bodies 

 Of all other kinds of insects, 

 But iu caterpillars chiefly 

 Of the butterflies and night moths : 

 On the living flesh they fatten. 

 When the time arrives for changing, 

 When the butterfly should issue 

 From its still and deathlike pupa, 

 Then from out that shrouded coffin 

 Comes the parasite Ichneumon, 

 With its wings aU bright and shiv'ring, 

 Quite transparent, often tinted 

 Like the evanescent rainbow. 

 They are insects slenderwaisted, 

 And their tail is armed with bristles, 

 Three long, sharp and piercing bristles, 

 Which they plunge into their victims, 

 And then leave an egg within them. 

 Most of them have feet fivejointed. 

 But a few, minute and burnished. 

 Like winged gems so bright their colours, 

 Have the feet four and threejointed. 

 All the tribe we call Ichneumons, 

 Parasites, Ichneumonina. 



