INSECTS AND VERMES. 473 



spider made any resistance, the ichneumon applied 

 her tail to him, and stung him with great vehemence, 

 so that he soon became dead and motionless. The 

 ichneumon then running backward, drew her prey very 

 nimbly over the walk into the standing grass. This 

 spider would be deposited in some hole where the ich- 

 neumon would lay some eggs; and as soon as the 

 eggs were hatched, the carcass would afford ready food 

 for the maggots. 



Perhaps some eggs might be injected into the body 

 of the spider, in the act of stinging. Some ichneumons 

 deposit their eggs in the aurelia of moths and butter- 

 flies 16 . 



16 The caterpillar of the small eggar moth (Phalana Lanestris*) is 

 peculiarly subject to the attacks of a very small ichneumon fly. Indeed, 

 I believe that not one in a thousand escapes, luckily for the thorn hedges, 

 which would otherwise be entirely devoured by them, for no bird will 

 touch them on account of their hairs, and the sole eating of them seems 

 to be given to the ichneumons. The creature continues feeding and 

 thriving with a whole colony of maggots within it, till full grown ; and 

 the maggots come to maturity at the same time precisely. At the moment 

 when the caterpillar is preparing to spin its web, they gnaw a hole through 

 its side, and issuing through it, immediately begin to spin their own webs, 

 and turn to chrysalides all huddled together ; and so completely have 

 they devoured its inside, that nothing remains but a dead skin of a cater- 

 pillar attached to their webs ; yet, strange to say, I have seen the cater- 

 pillar walking just before they burst out W. H. 



In my Naturalist's Calendar for 1795, July 21st, I find the following 

 note: 



It is not uncommon for some of the species of ichneumon flies to deposit 

 their eggs in the chrysalis of a butterfly : some time ago I put two of the 

 chrysalis of a butterfly into a box, and covered it with gauze, to discover 

 what species of butterfly they would produce ; but instead of a butterfly, 

 one of them produced a number of small ichneumon flies. 



There are many instances of the great service these little insects are to 

 mankind in reducing the number of noxious insects, by depositing their 

 eggs in the soft bodies of their larva; ; but none more remarkable than 

 that of the Ichneumon Tipulte^ which pierces the tender body and deposits 

 its eggs in the larva of the Tipula Tritici\, an insect which, when it 

 abounds greatly, is very prejudicial to the grains of wheat. This opera- 

 tion I have frequently seen it perform with wonder and delight. MARK- 

 WICK. 



* [Eriogaster Lanestris, GERM.] t [Ceddomyia Tritici, KIRB.] 



