272 OBSERVATIONS ON 



carcase 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. White. 



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 but- 

 terfly, 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 larvce ; but none more remarkable 

 than that of the ichneumon tipula, which 



