ICHNEUMONS, 



577 



Fig. 57. FAIRY FLY 



(Mymar pulchellus, Curt.). 



Magnified. 



half an inch across the wings. They are, however, by no means inconspicu- 

 ous insects, being of a bright metallic green, or cupreous ; and the female 

 has a long straight ovipositor. 



The pupae of the Chalcididce are naked, but those of the next family, the 

 Proctotrypidce, are enclosed in cocoons. The body, which is usually stout in 



the Chalcididce, is slender in the 

 Proctotrypidce, and the wings Family 

 are almost destitute of any Proctotrypidce . 

 trace of neuration. Most of 

 them are egg-parasites, and some are among the 

 smallest of known insects, being barely visible 

 even to the most practised eye, except as a 

 mere speck on a window-pane. The smallest 

 of all belong to the sub-family Mymarince, and 

 Mr. F. Enock, who has paid special attention 

 to them, calls them "fairy flies." They have 

 very narrow oval or battledore-shaped wings, 

 fringed round with long hairs ; and one or two 

 of them are aquatic in their habits, probably attacking the eggs of some 

 water-insect. 



The Braconidce and Ichneumonidce include the greater part of the remain- 

 ing parasitic rfymenoptera. The neuration, though still not very compli- 

 cated, extends over the greater part of the forewings ; and 

 the antennas are generally long and slender. In the Bra- Family 

 conidce there is one small joint beyond the scape of the Braconida. 

 antennae, but in the Ichneumonidce there are always two. 

 In the Ichneumonidce we often find an open space towards the middle of the 

 forewings, in which the principal nervures of the wing centre ; this is called 

 the areolet. In some genera of these two 

 families, the ovipositor is concealed ; Family 

 but in. some of the larger Ichneumonidce Ichneumonidce. 

 belonging to the sub-family Pimplince, 

 the ovipositor, which is usually composed of three sepa- 

 rate filaments, is of great length, being intended to reach 

 the larvae of wood-boring insects. Rhyssa persuasoria 

 (Linn.), which attacks the larva of Sirex gigas in its wooden 

 galleries, is black with yellow markings, and is one of 

 the largest of the British Ichneumonidce, measuring 

 nearly two inches across the wings, and nearly three 

 inches from the head to the extremity of the ovipositor, 

 which is nearly twice as long as the rest of the body. But 

 in some of the allied foreign species, the ovipositor is much 

 longer, not measuring less than six or eight inches in 

 length. 



The Evaniinw are a small family of parasitic insects, re- 

 -markable for their peculiar forms. The abdomen is 

 attached to the upper part of the metathorax, which 

 gives the whole insect a very peculiar appearance. The species of the genus 

 Evania (Fabr.) are parasitic on the egg-capsules of cock- 

 roaches, and are found all over the world, though for some Family 

 reason or other they are extremely rare in England. They Evaniidce. 

 are small black insects, measuring about three-quarters of 

 38 



Fig. 58. ICHNEUMON 

 FLY (Rhyssa persua- 

 soria). % Nat. size. 



