ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 221 



length. The female insect bores a hole with its strong 

 ovipositor in the bark of the fir, in which a single egg 

 is deposited. After seven weeks the larva has attained 

 its full size, when it is usually buried six inches deep 

 in the wood ; here it remains a long time in a pupa 

 state, and as the eggs are usually deposited in cut 

 trees in preference to growing one, the pupae are 

 often found in squared and cut timber. The yellow 

 body of the female insect is terminated by the sheath 

 of the ovipositor, which the uninitiated are prone to 

 regard as its sting; and hence the insect always inspires 

 dread. As the female will lay some hundreds of eggs 

 during the season, it is by no means a rare insect, but 

 must be sought amongst pine-trees. Larch posts and 

 palings are subject to its attacks. Strange stories 

 have been told of this insect, but they bear so little 

 of the impress of veracity that it were better not to 

 repeat them. 



There is one feature of the wings in many of these 

 insects which will interest the microscopist. This con- 

 sists in the row of hooks with which the upper edges of 

 the hind wings are furnished. Not alone one feature 

 but many await the investigator of their minute 

 structure ; the saws of the " sawflies," the ovipositors 

 of the ichneumons, the stings of wasps and bees, the 

 eyes of all, it would be long ere all the wonders are 

 exhausted which the microscope would reveal in the 

 minute anatomy of these four-winged flies. 



