AUGUST 145 



wasps. But what puzzles one is the purpose of this fly 

 attacking a human being who has offered it no pro- 

 vocation. The wound is inflicted with the ovipositor ; 

 but it can hardly be that Ophion intends that her 

 progeny shall be lodged and fed in the body of man, 

 woman or child. She is normally parasitic on the 

 caterpillars of various species of Lepidoptera, chiefly 

 Noctuid moths, and has been said to lay her eggs on, 

 and not in, the skin. I regret to confess that I missed 

 a fair opportunity of observing the action of Ophion 

 luteus. I was reading in bed when one alighted on 

 the sheet and I instinctively killed it a most foolish 

 act of which I felt immediately ashamed. 



I cannot close this note upon offensive insects with- 

 out feeling how presumptuous it is for one with a mere 

 smattering of entomology even to peer into that all 

 but boundless province to add one line to the vast 

 literature of insect lore. How vast that literature is, 

 may be estimated, nay, only vaguely inferred, from the 

 fact that Professor Frederic Theobald, being charged 

 with the task of preparing a monograph of a single 

 family of insects, the Culicidce (mosquitoes, gnats, etc.), 

 discharged that task for the Colonial Office and the 

 Royal Society by the production of five thick volumes ! 

 Howbeit, even the humblest observers of nature are 

 encouraged to pick up crumbs of knowledge from the 

 rich scientist's table. 



PS. Since the note above was penned Dr. James 

 Waterston, at Dr. Gahan's request, has dissected a 

 fresh female specimen of Ophion luteus and found ' a 

 K 



