HYMENOPTERS: ICHNEUMONS. 



135 



which they produce. There is generally but one kind 

 of ant in each nest, but in some cases the workers pro- 

 cure help by visiting the hills of other species, and for- 

 cibly taking the Iarva3 and pupa3, and bringing them 

 back, where they are tended and reared by workers of 

 the same kind which have before been stolen in the 

 same way. Ants are very warlike, arid engage in 

 pitched battles, after which the ground is strewn with 

 the dead. 



ICHNEUMONS. 



These insects have a long, hard, slender body, long 

 antenna3, and the ovipositor is usually long; the lat- 



Fig. 260. Ich- 

 neumon. 



Fig. 259. Ichneumon laying 1 her eggs in holes 

 bored hy the Boring Saw-Fly, Figure 262. 



ter is sometimes two or three times the length of the 

 body. They lay their eggs in the eggs, Iarva3, and 

 pupa3 of other insects, and thus destroy great numbers 

 of them. Sometimes the eggs are laid upon the outside, 

 but usually inside. When laid on the outside of the 

 pupae, the ichneumon, as soon as hatched, eats its way 

 into its victim ; when laid inside, the young ichneumon 



