BIRDS AND INSECTS 113 



HORNETS 



time after time attempt to carry away the heads 

 of nails from where they appeared on the surface 

 of the framework of houses. The hornets only 

 saw a black dot and mistook it for a fly. 



THE ICHNEUMON FLY 



is a strange wasp-like insect ; the female has a long 

 tube at the end of her body, composed of the fur- 

 rowed pieces of the sheath of her gimlet, which she 

 uses for the purpose of piercing the bodies of help- 

 less grubs. 



To do this it is necessary for her to locate the 

 grubs in the wood and this she does by probing 

 the worm holes with the long instrument attached 

 to her body. 



The particular ichneumon fly of which I am 

 speaking made a similar mistake to the one so often 

 made by the hornets, she, however, unlike the lat- 

 ter did not mistake the nail for an insect, but she 

 evidently thought it to be a worm hole and the 



ACROBATIC FEATS 



she performed in trying to thrust her egg bearing 

 tube into the head of the nail were most laugh- 

 able; she stood on her head lifting her tail high in 

 the air so as to be able to thrust her spear verti- 

 cally down, it would not go; she felt all around 

 the nail and tried every device known to her ex- 



