324 INSECTS AT HOME. 



mens being as large as the figure, if not larger, while others 

 are no bigger than gnats. The mode in wliicb the Pimjjlas 

 deposit their eggs is well told by Mr. Westwood : — 



'May 29, 1830, I observed a Pimpla, with the ovipositor 

 almost as long as the body, hi the act of oviposition in a dry 

 paling, which had been much jjerforated, and out of which I 

 had just dug a black Pemphredon. The part in which the 

 ovipositor was introduced appeared to be quite solid. (Reau- 

 mur represents his specimens as inserting their ovipositors 

 in a circular patch of dried clay, used to stop up the entrance 

 to the nest of the intended victim.) There were several very 

 minute blackish sj)ots, as they seemed to be, close to the place 

 where the ovipositor was inserted, and which were probably 

 other places of insertion of the ovipositor. 



' When first observed, the insect had introduced about half 

 the terebra into the post, the part remaining uninserted being 

 at right angles with the body, the sheaths being curved and 

 their tips being brought to the place of insertion, thus evidently 

 strengthening the terebra in its operations. The abdomen was 

 at this time alternately tm-ned from left to right, and vice versa, 

 whereby a bradawl kind of motion was given to the terebra, 

 enabling it to penetrate the wood to a greater depth. It then 

 alternately partially withdrew and replunged the terebra into 

 the hole thus made, as though in the act of passing an egg or 

 eggs, standing all this while on the tips of the tarsi. On cutting, 

 however, into the post, I was not able to discover any lignivorous 

 larva, finding only a channel of fine, white pulverised wood, 

 which had been made by a previous occupier of the 

 tube.' 



Some further details of this insect are given on Woodcut 

 XXXI. Fig. b shows the lateral view of the female abdomen 

 in a fresh insect, and c is the same portion of a dried sppcimeu. 

 Fig. d shows the abdomen as seen from beneath, and Fig. e 

 shows the end of the male abdomen. 



Some of the Ichneumons have wonderfully long and slender 

 ovipositors. One of them, Rhyssa persuasoria, is shown on 

 Plate X. Fig. 5, one being seen in the act of depositing her 

 eggs, and the other to be flying. In this genus the abdomen 

 is without a footstalk, long, convex, and furnished with a very 



