132 ICHNEUMON LAYING EGGS. 



containing these larvae. It is time for all oH- 

 servers to arrive at a better state of knowledge!, 

 lest we destroy, as authors of mischiefs, the 

 friendly antidotes to their increase. Prejudice 

 and hasty judgment lead to perpetual miscon- 

 structions, as to things both moral and natural. 

 But to return to the ichneumon. This little 

 platygaster may be readily found on the glumes 

 of the wheat-plants, in the months of July and 

 August. It runs rapidly over the ears, and seems 

 to know well which are those occupied by .the 

 larvse of the midge. The author found numbers 

 of them in various wheat-fields in August, 

 1845; and almost invariably, on examining 

 the ears on which they appeared, discovered 

 that they contained the objects of their search. 

 The ichneumon hunts for them with the utmost 

 eagerness, and by the aid of a sharp tail places 

 a single egg in each of their bodies. The 

 sight has been witnessed by the following ex- 

 periment : a number of larvae of the wheat- 

 midge were put upon a piece of white paper, 

 pretty near each other, and an ichneumon was 

 dropped into the midst of the group. The 

 energy of her manner, the rapid vibrations of 

 her antennae, and the whole of her attitudes, 

 were most amusing. On approaching one of 



