AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUXG. 19o 



arteries, lungs, and intestines, should we not regard such an instance 

 as a perfect prodigy, as an example of instinctive forbearance almost 

 miraculous ? 



Some Ichneumons, instead of burying their eggs in the body of the 

 larvse that are to serve their young for food, content themselves with 

 gluing them to the skin of their prey. This is the case with Scoliafla- 

 vifrons, which my learned entomological friend M. Passerini of Florence 

 has found places its eggs on the larva of a large beetle (Oryctes nasicornis), 

 upon which when hatched the larva of the Scolia feeds, by introducing the 

 three first segments of its body into the belly of its victim, always between 

 the sixth and seventh segment, so that this insect is a semi-internal 

 parasite. 1 Another tribe, whose activity and perseverance are equally 

 conspicuous, which includes the beautiful genus Chrysis and many other 

 hymenopterous and dipterous insects, imitating the insidious cuckoo, 

 contrive to introduce their eggs into the nests in which bees and other 

 insects have deposited theirs. With this view they are constantly on the 

 watch, and the moment the unsuspecting mother has quitted her cell for 

 the purpose of collecting a store of food or materials, glide into it and 

 leave an egg, the germ of a future assassin of the larva that is to spring 

 from that deposited by its side. 



The females of the insects of which we have been speaking, in pro- 

 viding for their offspring, are saved the trouble of furnishing them with 

 any habitation. Either they occupy that of another insect, or find a con 

 venient abode within the body of that on which they feed. But upon the 

 maternal affection of another large hymenopterous tribe, belonging to 

 Latreille's Family of Burrowers (Fossores), whose young in like manner 

 feed on other insects, is imposed the arduous task not merely of collecting 

 a supply of food, but of inclosing it along with their eggs in cells or 

 burrows often of considerable depth, and dug with great labour in sand, 

 wood, or the solid earth. 



The general economy of these insects is similar. Having first dug a 

 cylindrical cavity of the requisite dimensions, and deposited an egg at the 

 bottom, they inclose along with it one or more caterpillars, spiders, or other 

 insects, each particular species for the most part selecting a distinct kind, 

 as a provision for the young one when hatched, and sufficiently abundant 

 to nourish it until it becomes a pupa. Many thus furnish several cells. 

 This process, however, is varied by different species, some of whose 

 operations are worthy of a more detailed description. 



One of the most early histories of the procedure of an insect of this 

 kind, probably the common sand-wasp (Ammophila vulgaris), is left us by 

 the excellent Ray, who observed it along with his friend Willoughby. On 

 the 22nd of June, 1667, he tells us, they noticed this insect dragging a 

 green caterpillar thrice as big as itself, which, after thus conveying about 

 fifteen feet, it deposited at the entrance of a hole previously dug in the 

 sand. Then removing a pellet of earth from its mouth, it descended into 

 the cavity, and, presently returning, dragged along with it the caterpillar. 

 After staying awhile it again ascended, then rolled pieces of earth into 

 the hole, at intervals scratching the dust into it like a dog with its fore 

 feet, and entering it as if to press down and consolidate the mass, flying also 



Osservazioni sulk Larve, Ninfe, Sec. (Pise, 1840). Guerin-Meneville, Revue 

 Zoolog. 1841, p. 240. 



o '2 



