DESTKOYEES OP THE MIDGE, 135 



of these extraordinary flies has an ovipositor, 

 nearly thrice its own length, which it inserts 

 into the parts of the flower containing the eggs 

 in which it designs to lay its own. Indeed the 

 instruments with which nature has furnished 

 all the ichneumons that have been observed, 

 manifest the most remarkable adaptation ; and 

 there could scarcely be conceived a more beau- 

 tiful subject for a separate treatise than that of 

 their forms and habits, whenever they may 

 have been sufliciently investigated. The design 

 of the present remarks is merely to show how 

 carefully there is provided, by the goodness and 

 wisdom of God, a natural antagonism to the 

 disasters that would befal mankind from the 

 unchecked multiplication of our insect enemies. 

 Nor db the ichneumons alone perform this 

 oflice. There are flies which live upon the 

 midges, carrying them off and devouring them 

 in the same way as hawks and other birds of 

 prey diminish the numbers of the smaller 

 feathered tribes. "While this agency is going 

 on in nature, there is left abundance of scope 

 for the exercise of our own ingenuity ; and the 

 next question is, how we may effectually call it 

 forth in the way of defence against the little 

 pests now under review ? 



