534 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



tion begins to approach ; and then spinning a 

 silken web, it continues fixed in its cell till 

 the sun calls it from its dark abode the ensu- 

 ing summer. 



The wasps of Europe are very mischievous, 

 yet they are innocence itself when compared 

 to those of the tropical climates, where all the 

 insect tribes are not only numerous but large, 

 voracious, and formidable. Those of the West 

 Indies are thicker, and twice as long, as the 

 common bee ; they are of a gray colour, striped 

 with yellow, and armed with a very danger- 

 ous sting. They make their cells in the man- 

 ner of a honey-comb, in which the young ones 

 are hatched and bred. They generally hang 

 their nests by threads, composed of the same 

 substance with the cells, to the branches of 

 trees, and the eaves of houses. They are seen 

 every where in great abundance, descending 

 like fruit, particularly pears, of which shape 

 they are, and as large as one's head. The in- 

 side is divided into three round stories full of 

 cells, each hexagonal, like jfhose of a honey- 

 comb. In some of the islands these insects 

 are so very numerous, that their nests are 

 stuck up in this manner, scarce two feet asun- 

 der, and the inhabitants are in continual ap- 

 prehension from their accidental resentment. 

 It sometimes happens that no precautions can 

 prevent their attacks, and the pain of their 

 sting is almost insupportable. Those who 

 have felt it, think it more terrible than even 

 that of a scorpion ; the whole visage swells, 

 and the features are so disfigured, that a per- 

 son is scarcely known by his most intimate 

 acquaintance. 



CHAP. IV. 



OF THE ICHNEUMON FLY. 



EVERY rank of insects, how voracious so- 

 ever, have enemies that are terrible to them, 

 and that revenge upon them the injuries done 

 upon the rest of the animated creation. The 

 wasp as we have seen, is very troublesome to 

 man, and very formidable to the insect tribe ; 

 but the ichneumon fly (of which there are 

 many varieties) fears not the wasp itself; it 

 enters its retreats, plunders its habitations, and 

 takes possession of that cell for its own young, 

 which the wasp had laboriously built for a 

 dearer posterity. 



Though there are many different kinds of 

 this insect, yet the most formidable, and that 

 best known, is called the common ichneumon, 

 with four wings, like the bee, a long, slender, 

 black body, and a three-forked tail, consisting 

 of bristles; the two outermost black, and the 

 middlemost red. This fly receives its name 



from the little quadruped, which is found to be 

 so destructive to the crocodile, as it bears a 

 strong similitude in its courage and rapacity. 



Though this instrument is, to all appear- 

 ance, slender and feeble, yet it is found to be 

 a weapon of great, force and efficacy. There 

 is scarcely any substance which it will not 

 pierce; and indeed it is seldom seen but em- 

 ployed in penetration. This is the weapon of 

 defence ; this is employed in destroying its 

 prey ; and still more, by this the animal de- 

 posits her eggs wherever she thinks fit to lay 

 them. As it is an instrument chiefly em- 

 ployed for this purpose, the male is unprovi- 

 ded with such a sting, while the female uses 

 it with great force and dexterity, brandishing 

 it when caught, from side to side, and very 

 often wounding those who thought they held 

 her with the greatest security. 



All the flies of this tribe are produced in 

 the same manner, and owe their birth to the 

 destruction of some other insect, within whose 

 body they have been deposited, and upon 

 whose vitals they have preyed, till they come 

 to maturity. There is no insect whatever, 

 which they will not attack, in order to leave 

 their fatal present in its body; the caterpillar, 

 the gnat, and even the spider himself, so for- 

 midable to others, is often made the unwilling- 

 fosterer of this destructive progeny. 



About the middle of the summer, when 

 other insects are found in great abundance, the 

 ichneumon is seen flying busily about, and 

 seeking proper objects upon whom to deposit 

 its progeny. As there are various kinds of 

 this fly, so they seem to have various appe- 

 tites. Some are found to place their eggs 

 within the aurelia of some nascent insect, 

 others place them within the nest, which the 

 wasp had curiously contrived for its own 

 young : and as both are produced at the same 

 time, the young of the ichneumon not only de- 

 vours the young wasp, but the whole supply 

 of worms which the parent had carefully pro- 

 vided for its provision. But the greatest num. 

 ber of the ichneumon tribe are seen settling 

 upon the back of the caterpillar, and darting, 

 at different intervals, their stings into its body. 

 At every dart they deposit an egg, while the 

 wounded animal seems scarcely sensible of the 

 njury it sustains. In this manner they leave 

 from six to a dozen of their eggs within the 

 fatty substance of the reptile's body, and then 

 fly off to commit further depredations. In the 

 meantime, the caterpillar, thus irreparably in- 

 jured, seems to feed as voraciously as before ; 

 does not abate of its usual activity ; and to all 

 appearance, seems no way affected by the in- 

 ternal enemies that are preparing its destruc- 

 ion in their darksome abode. But they soon 

 3urst from their egg state, and begin to prey 

 upon the substance of their prison. As they 



