228 THEIR OVIPOSITION 



therefore merely mention some of the peculiar habits 

 of the tribe, and this I shall principally do in the 

 M'ords of Kirby and Spence. 



" The habits of this whole tribe, which properly 

 includes a great number of distant genera, are simi- 

 lar. They all oviposit in living insects, chiefly 

 while in the larva state, sometimes while pupae {Ich. 

 puparum L.), and even while in the egg state (Ich. 

 ovulorum L.), but not, as far as is known, in perfect 

 insects. The eggs thus deposited soon hatch into 

 grubs, which immediately attack their victim, and in 

 the end insure its destruction. The number of eggs 

 committed to each individual varies according to its 

 size, and that of the grubs which are to spring from 

 them, being in most cases one only, but in others 

 amounting to some hundreds. 



" From the observations hitherto made by Ento- 

 mologists, the great body of the ichneumon tribe is 

 principally employed in keeping within their pro- 

 per limits the infinite host of lepidopterous larvae, 

 destroying however many insects of other orders ; 

 and perhaps, if the larvae of these last fell equally 

 under our observation with those of the former, we 

 might discover that few exist uninfested by their ap- 

 propriate parasite. Such is the activity and address 

 of the Ichneumonidse, that scarcely any concealment, 

 except perhaps the waters, can secure their prey 



q2 



