CHALCIDID^:. 



C 



of species of Mantis from Brazil and the Isle 

 of France j and Sells has recorded the oc- 

 currence of no less than ninety-four speci- 

 mens of a small Pteromalus in a single egg- 

 case of a Blatta. 



Other minute species deposit their eggs 

 in the bodies of Aphides ; and their larvse 

 find a sufficient supply of nourishment even 

 in such small insects as these. Some, 

 especially those forming the genus Cocco- 

 phagus of Westwood, attack the Coccidce, 

 of which they destroy great numbers. 



Other species, including most of the larger 

 forms, live parasitically in the cells of the 

 solitary Bees and Wasps. Amongst these 

 we may notice the singular genus Mono- 

 dontomerus, one species of which, first 

 discovered by Audouiu, and described by 

 Newport in the ' Linnean Transactions/ is 

 found in the nests of Odynerus, Anthophora, 

 and Osmia. The male of this remarkable 

 insect has only rudimentary wings, so that 

 it is unable to quit the cell of the Bee or 

 Wasp in which it passed its earlier stages, 

 whilst the female, being well provided with 

 wings, can fly about, after impregnation, to 

 seek other nests in which to deposit her eggs. 

 The species which are furnished with long 

 ovipositors belong chiefly to the genus Cal- 

 limome (fig. 14, C. cynipis) ; they deposit 

 their eggs hi different kinds of galls, the 

 vegetable excrescences caused by the punc- 

 tures of various other insects upon plants. 

 The larv8B of these gallicolous Chacididae 

 devour the rightful occupant of the gall. 



The instinct which prompts these insects 

 to deposit their eggs in the larvae of these 

 gall-producing insects, is scarcely so asto- 

 nishing as that by which others are impelled 

 to insert theirs into the bodies of other para- 

 sitic insects, whilst still enclosed within 

 the tissues of their victim. Some of these, 

 such as Clirysolampus siispensus and Coruna 

 clavata, attack the Iarva3 of the Aphidii, 

 minute Ichneumons which infest the bodies 

 of Aphides ; and De Filippi has recorded 

 the occurrence of the larvse of one species 

 within a small Dipterous larva which itself 

 lives in the egg of Ehynchites Betuleti in 

 the vineyards near Turin ^Ann. N. H. 1852, 

 ix. 461). De Filippi is inclined to regard 

 the phenomena observed by him as an in- 

 stance of alternation of general ions; but 

 they evidently constitute an example of 

 double parasitism. 



BIBL. Westwood, Introd. ii. & Zod. Jn. ; 

 Spinola, Ann. Museum, xvii. 138-152 ; Nees 

 von Esenbeck, Hynenopt. Ichneum. Mon. 



) ] CHALK. 



ii. ; Boyer de Fonscolombe, Mon. Chalc. 

 Gallo-Proi'incice, Ann. Sci. Nat. xxvi. ; 

 Walker, Mon. Chalcid. ; Dalman and Bohe- 

 rnan in Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handlingar ; 

 Walker, Entom. Mag. and Ann. N. H. ; 

 Guerin's Mag. de Zool., Ent. Mag. &c., and 

 Haliday, Entom. Mag. 



CHA'LIMUS, Burm. A genus of Crus- 

 tacea, of the order Siphonostoma, and fa- 

 mily Caligidse. 



Char. Fourth pair of legs slender, of only 

 one branch, and serving for walking ; frontal 

 plate with a long and slender prehensile 

 appendage arising from the middle of its 

 anterior surface. 



C. scombri. Found upon the mackerel, 

 and upon species of Caligus, of which it has 

 been supposed to be the young; length 

 about 1-6". 



BIBL. Burmeister, N.A.Acad. N. C. Bonn, 

 xvii. ; Baird, Brit. Entomostr. p. 278. 



CHALK. An earthy form of carbonate 

 of lime, constituting strata of great thick- 

 ness in England and several parts of Europe, 

 &c. The application of the microscope to 

 the examination of chalk brought to light 

 the interesting fact that this substance has 

 not had its origin in chemical precipitation, 

 since it contains abundance of the inorganic 

 remains of marine animals, and a few plants, 

 perhaps doubtful. 



Many of these relics are not microscopic, 

 as those of Fishes and Reptiles, the shells of 

 Malacostracous Crustacea, Mollusca, Echi- 

 nodermata, the polypidoms of Zoophytes, 

 &c. ; hence their consideration does not 

 come within our province : yet it must be 

 remembered that their microscopic structure 

 is characteristic, so that the class, order, or 

 even the more minute division of the ani- 

 mal kingdom to which they belong may be 

 discovered. See BONE and SHELL. 



The chief microscopic constituents of the 

 calcareous formations examined by Ehren- 

 berg, viz. chalk, and nummulitic and other 

 compact limestones, w^ere found to be 

 shells of Foraminifera, spicules of sponges, 

 and peculiar bcdies called crystalloids; and 

 several siliceo-calcareous earths he found 

 to be wholly composed of spicules, Diato- 

 maceee, Polycystina, and Foraminifera. 



The Foraminifera found by Ehrenberg 

 in the Graveeend chalk were: Cristellaria 

 cidtrata, Globigerina cretacca, Heterosto- 

 mella atuleata and tumens, Nodosaria ovi- 

 eida, Planorbidina ammonoides, Polymor- 

 phina Thouini, Pidvimdina Micheliniana, 

 Textularia agglutinans, gibbosa, globidosa. 



