0» INSECT TRANSFORMATIOXS. 



nest of the mason Avasp. But although the insect 

 appeared not to be disturbed by my observations, yet 

 1 was unable to perceive whether the toothed portion 

 (if the borer was pushed beyond the sides of the sheath. 

 What I did see, however, convinced me that the in- 

 strimient was worked in a manner well adapted to 

 make its way through the mortar; for she turned it 

 half round alternately from right to left and from left 

 to right, as a carpenter would his brad-awl, and 

 employed altogether more than a quarter of an hour* 

 before she succeeded in penetratmg to a sufficient 

 depth.'* 



ichneumon flies ovipositing, n a, an ichnenmon fly. 6 b, its 

 ovipositor, r, an ichneumon, which has just bored through the 

 closed substance of a sand wasp's nest :it i . into wliieh \wi- ovi- 

 positor, (/, descends to the coil of caterpillars aty, where the 

 egg is laid. 



t R aumur, Mem. vi, p. 304. 



