OPERATIVE TOOLS. 329 



that " no human workman could construct one so small, fine, 

 exquisitely polished, and fitting so exactly," is a tool used for 

 a purpose something similar to the last, that, namely, of cut- 

 ting grooves of a particular description in woody branches 

 for reception of insect eggs. The carpenter, or carpentress, 

 which owns it, is the female Tree-hopper, or Cicada, who thus 

 cuts the branches, while her mate "bursts the very shrubs" 

 by his shrilly music. Our "cuckoo-spit" is an allied insect; 

 but in England has been found as yet only one Cicada* 

 which resembles that possessed of this admirable tool. In 

 the large dead specimens, now easily procurable from China, 

 its examination is not difficult. 



Our next more simple instrument is an awl, or piercer, 

 which issues from a sheath, in form of a curved needle. It is 

 the piercing ovipositor the wonder-working wand of a fairy 

 Gall-fly, and, though a great deal longer than the insect's 

 body, is, by a mechanical contrivance, nicely adapted to it. 

 Its base near the tail, it follows the bend of the back, "makes 

 a turn at the breast, and then, following the curve of the 

 belly, appears again where it originates." 



We have here another borer, or brad-awl, defended by a 

 sheath, which opens lengthwise, like a pair of compasses. 

 The awl itself is single, nearly three inches long, and terminates, 

 not in a simple, but a serrated point. This is the instrument 

 of that large common ichneumon,! which, for deposit of her 



* G. Anglica, found by Mr. Dale, afterwards by Curtis, in the New Forest. 

 t Pimpla manifestator . 



