SOME USEFUL INSECTS. 237 



so low down in the scale of life as the insect 

 parasite, yet endowed with such remarkable 

 powers as to leave the vital parts of the host till 

 the last, and so make its eating and living keep 

 equal steps with the eating and living of its host. 



How did it reach this pitch of intelligence, 

 reasoning, blind instinctwhat shall we name it? 



Did the hand of Nature or the hand of God 

 select, and select without effort on the part of 

 the insect, till the marvellous endowment of the 

 ichneumon fly was reached ? It may be so, but 

 at present we don't know for certain. 



Whole pages could be written on the thought 

 that the life-history of the ichneumon fly sug- 

 gests to the mind. 



The wretched host insect goes about its daily 

 life with the dreadful parasite inside it, to all 

 appearance not much the worse. 



Is the host aware that it is being eaten slowly 

 away by the parasite inside it that it is dying 

 from slow consumption ? We hope that it is 

 not. 



Some hosts will even turn into the pupa or 

 chrysalis state, but never change from the pupa 

 into the perfect insect. 



Many an enthusiastic collector of butterflies 

 has suffered keen disappointment on account of 

 the work of the ichneumon fly. 



The collector finds a pupa ; he keeps it, 



