THE MOST MARVELLOUS DRILL 

 IN THE WORLD 



December 8th 



HE season of animated insect life is long past, 

 and the "bug-hunter's" attention is now 

 mostly confined to the winter harvest of co- 

 coons everywhere disclosed among the de- 

 nuded twigs. True, there's the black-and-tan 

 "woolly bear" every now and then to be seen 

 crawling across the snow, the caddis-nests in 

 the brook, the water-beetles at the edge of the 

 ice, and those winter butterflies and snow-fleas, all of 

 which I shall describe in a later page. But there are 

 two curiosities more remarkable than any of these yet 

 awaiting us in the woods, if our eyes are only sharp 

 enough to find them ; one of which, in certain respects, 

 is the most wonderful insect which any insect cabinet 

 can show. 



It is true that we might have looked for our strange 

 insect several months ago; but then there was so much 

 else to choose from through the summer months, and 

 we knew that our secret would keep, and that the winter 

 would show us our prize. And here it is, clinging to 

 the bark of a maple-tree in the woods, all ready and 

 waiting for its collector a perfect specimen, with legs 

 and wings firm and nicely spread and set, and, what is 

 more, mounted to the bark with its own pin ! 



A "big black wasp," you think? Yes, it does look 



