26 ICHNEUMONS. 



for our benefit, after caterpillars in the egg, as well as in 

 maturity. 



But the extensive value of ichneumons, as a check upon 

 caterpillar depredation, may be best estimated by their num- 

 bers, of which we may form a tolerable notion when we hear 

 of above 1,300 species* in Europe only, some so minute " that 

 the egg of a butterfly is sufficient for the support of two until 

 they reach maturity ; others so large that the body of a fall 

 grown caterpillar does not more than suffice for one."f 



Aristotle is said to have first applied the name of Ichneumon 

 to the wasp ; and certain wasps there are, betwixt whom and 

 ichneumon-flies, properly so called, there is not a pin to 

 choose, as regards their prying parasitic habits. The ichneu- 

 mons belong also to the same order (that of Hymenoptera) 

 as wasps and bees ; both, spite of their relationship, among 

 the objects of their treacherous attack. 



Of this distant kinship there are outward traces in the four 

 transparent wings, and in the slight wasp-like attachment of 

 the ichneumon's breast and abdomen, also in its prevailing 

 colours of black and orange ; but the ichneumon, whether a 

 dwarf or a giant of its family, has a figure of such peculiar 

 cut as to make it easy enough, when acquainted with one, to 

 recognise a hundred of his name. We may know them by 

 their long narrow bodies, so convenient for prying and poking 

 into holes and corners, as well as by their long, flexible, 



* " Naturalist's Library." f Kirby and Spence, Introduction. 



