144 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



called icJmeumons, of which there are upwards of five hundred 

 species. As I am not at present in possession of any prac- 

 tical work on Entomology, I cannot determine the species 

 of this ichneumon, but to show that it differs in some respects, 

 from the family to which it belongs, I will quote a paragraph 

 from a work before me, in which are set forth some peculiari- 

 ties belonging to that class of insects as a genus : 



" The whole of this singular genus have been denominated 

 parasitical, on account of the very extraordinary manner in 

 which they provide for the future support of their young. The 

 fly feeds on the honey of flowers, and when about to lay her 

 eggs, perforates the body of some other insect or its larvae 

 with its sting or instrument at the end of the abdomen, and 

 then deposits them. The eggs in a few days hatch, and the 

 young larvae, which resemble minute white maggots, nourish 

 themselves with the juices of the foster parent, which, how- 

 ever, continues to move about and feed until near the time of 

 its changing into a chrysalis, when the larvae of the ichneu- 

 mon creep out by perforating the skin in various places, and 

 each spinning itself up in a small oval silken case, changes 

 into a chrysalis, and after a certain period they emerge in the 

 state of complete ichneumons." 



It will be seen that there is a peculiarity attached to this 

 ichneumon not included in the above description ; that of ap- 

 propriating the chrysalis, as well as the larvae of other insects, 

 to the use of their young. All ichneumons that I ever read of, 

 spin their own chrysalis, but this is the prince of parasites, for 

 not content with eating the substance of his neighbor, he 

 seizes also on his house. So far as I have read concerning 

 this curious family of insects, this is a nondescript. As an 

 example of these insects called ichneumons, I may mention the 

 ichneumon seductor, or dirt-dauber, well known to everybody 

 as that wasp-like insect, which builds its clay houses on the 



