INSIDIOUS DESTROYERS. 107 



at all uncommon, during the present month, on the oak and 

 hawthorn. The armour worn by him is, on the upper side, 

 black and striated, with reflections of reddish purple, changed, 

 on the margins of the scapulae, to brilliant green, which is the 

 prevailing colour on the under side. Besides the above, va- 

 rious predatory beetles* fierce, and swift, and strong are 

 accustomed to make the oak and its precincts the favourite 

 scene of their tragic performances. 



In no other locality has the extensive tribe of Parasitic or 

 Ichneumon Flies more fertile field for its insidious practices, 

 than amidst the numerous tribes of an oak. 



A corpulent caterpillar is stuffing its furred or velvet 

 doublet with the juicy pulp of a young and tender oak-leaf. 

 His thoughts : at all events his sensations are completely 

 centred in the business which he has in hand more properly, 

 in mouth ; and he dreams as little of approaching danger as an 

 alderman at a city feast, imbibing the green fat of turtle, while 

 a sparkling chandelier hangs, perhaps suspended by an all but 

 severed chain, over his devoted head. No chandelier, indeed, 

 but destruction, in a living form as brilliant, hangs suspended 

 over the unconscious glutton of the oak-leaf. An Ichneumon 

 Fly, poised in air above him, her iridiscent wings and black- 

 shining body glittering in the sun, is fearfully vibrating her 

 tail-like piercer, with intent to plunge it into the fleshy back 

 of her well-fed victim. She stoops her weapon enters is 



* CaraU. 



