238 A COUNTRY READER. 



awaiting anxiously the arrival of the perfect 

 butterfly, but instead several little parasites 

 appear, which are only the larvae of the 

 ichneumon fly. 



Although the ichneumon fly cannot directly 

 prevent a spread of injurious insects, when these 

 insects do appear the ichneumon fly appears in 

 correspondingly large numbers, and so renders 

 great service to agriculturalists. 



Digging Wasps live in pairs, and in the 

 summer, the female digs a hole in the earth in 

 which she lays her eggs. At the same time she 

 buries an insect, so that when her larvae hatch 

 out, a plentiful supply of food is close at hand. 

 Now here is a wonderful power possessed by 

 these wasps. The female naturally does not 

 wish the insect she has buried to decompose 

 and thus be unfit food for her larvae. Therefore, 

 before burying the insect she does not kill it out- 

 right, but by stinging it several times on the 

 body she paralyses it, and thus reduces it to a 

 condition of apparent death. She does this, so 

 that when her larvae crawl out of the eggs, the 

 insect meant for food, being not quite dead, is 

 fresh and sweet. 



Different species of these digging wasps bury 

 caterpillars, spiders, weevils, flies, etc. 



Sexton or Burying Beetle. Have you ever 

 thought of the enormous number of deaths 



