ICHNEUMONS IN CHRYSALIDES. 295 



little animals of that description as were ever set eyes on 

 buzzing in a window, distinguished, however, by their para- 

 sitic origin from the household herd. 



Though the gay and beautiful order Lepidoptera thus holds 

 a dangerous pre-eminence as an object of parasitic attack, 

 it is not alone the butterfly and moth which are often robbed 

 by the same agency of their last estate and brightest in- 

 heritance. 



We have seen already how a common ichneumon, with a 

 tail-like ovipositor of prodigious length, is accustomed to 

 assail, in the deep nest-hole of a mason wasp, the infant 

 progeny of an insect of its own order, that of Hymenoptera ; 

 and we shall briefly notice, now, the invasion of an infant 

 asylum of somewhat similar construction, wherein, however, a 

 parasitic wasp is the aggressor, and a solitary carpenter bee 

 the maternal guardian, whose cares are often rendered nuga- 

 tory by its cunning. 



The waspish lady (in this case the aggressor) is, however, 

 we can tell you, Reader, a wasp of no common order; but 

 one which, for beauty and splendour, has never met her match 

 in the waspish world, nor her superior, perhaps, in the whole 

 world of British insects. You must surely have sometimes 

 seen her, a perfect living jewel as she is ! with head, breast, 

 and shoulders all thickly set with emeralds, outshone only 

 by the ruby-red and burnished gold which mingle in her fiery 

 tail. You must have seen, and certainly have noted, such 

 a notable as this, when alighted, according to her wont, in 

 the hottest summer sunshine, upon posts and railings; but 

 you may not know her by the names either of " Chrysis" of 

 " Golden Wasp," or of " Ruby-tail Fly ;" or even if you 

 know her names, you may not be acquainted with her busi- 

 ness her business, that is, upon posts and railings. Never 

 suppose that she so often visits these uninviting, flowerless, 

 dry localities, merely to bask in the sultry sunbeams, or 

 challenge them to outshine her golden splendour. No ; this 



