314 INSECTS.- 



Weft Indian wafps are thicker, and twice as long as the common bee| 

 grey ftriped with yellow, and have a very dangerous fting. Their cellg 

 refemblea honey-comb, in which the young ones are bred. They hancr 

 their nefts by threads, compofcd of the fame fubftance with the cells, to 

 the branches pf trees, and the eaves of houfes, in great abundance, de- 

 fcending like pears, of )vhich (hape they are, and as large as one's head. 

 The infide is divided into three round ftories, full of hexagonal cells. In 

 fome iflands thcfe infeds are fo numerous, that their nefts are fcarce two 

 feet afunder, and fometimes no precautions can prevent their attacks : the 

 pain of their fting is almoft infupportable ; the whole vifage fwells, and 

 the features are lb disfigured, that a perfon is fcarcely known by his moft 

 intimate acquaintance. 



THE ICHNEUMON FLY. 



THE ichneumon fly (of which there are many varieties) fears not the 

 wafp iifeif, but enters its retreats, plunders its habitations, and 

 takes pclTeftion of its cell for its own young. The moft formidable, 

 and bell known, is the common ichneumon, with four wings like 

 the bee, a long flender black body, a three-forked tail, confifting of 

 briftles ; the two outermoft black, the mlddlemoft red. This instru- 

 ment is a weapon of great force and efficacy ; fcarce any fubftance it 

 will not pierce. This is employed in deftroying its prey, and by this 

 the animal depofits her eggs. The male has no fuch fting; the female 

 ufes it with great force and dexterity, brandifliing it from fide to fide, 

 and often wounding thofe who thought they held her fecurely. 



All this tribe owe their birth to the deftruftion of fome other infedt, 

 within whofe body they have been depofited, and upon whofe vitals they 

 have preyed. The caterpillar, the gnat, and even the fpider, fo formi- 

 dable to others, is often their unwilling fofterer. About the middle of 

 fummer, when inftds are abundant, the ichneumon is feen flying bufily 

 about, and feeking proper objedls of various kinds, upon whom to de- 

 pofc its progeny. Some place their eggs in the aurelia of fome naf- 

 cent infc<5t, others in the neft of the wafp j and as both are produced at 

 the fame time, the young ichneumon not pnly devours the young wafp, 



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