390 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



abdomen and a long ovipositor, the abdomen is exceedingly long, 

 and the ovipositor short. The abdomen, indeed, is lengthened 

 so greatly, that at a hasty glance the insect looks exactly like a 

 Dragon Fly. In this respect it bears a singular contrast to the 

 Kvanias, which seem to be all thorax and hind-legs, the abdomen 

 being a mere insignificant little appendage to the large thorax. 

 The insects inhabit North America, and in some districts are 

 exceedingly common. The specimen which is here figured was 

 brought from Trenter Falls, New York, by Mr. Doubleday. 



Fig. 19'2.— Polecinus jiolylurator. 

 (Shining black.) 



On looking at any of these insects, it is evident that the long 

 abdomen answers the same purpose as the long ovipositor, and 

 that it enables the insect to deposit its eggs in the body of some 

 larva which it could not otherwise reach. A visitor to the 

 British Museum lately said that in the pine forests of Canada 

 the Pelecini absolutely swarmed, and that hundreds of them 

 might be found on the trunks of the trees dead and stiff, with 

 their abdomen thrust deeply into the burrow made by some 

 wood-boring insect. In some places they were so numerous 

 that a dozen or so could be swept off by a single stroke of the 

 hand down the tree-trunk. This characteristic anecdote at once 



