HISTORY OF INSECTS. 41 



123. The caterpillar of the tiger-moth is one 

 of the most destructive in our gardens ; it devours, 

 indiscriminately, lettuces, radishes, beans, peas, 

 and every other early produce of our gardens, 

 and is most abundant in the spring, when 

 these plants are being reared : it is a very rough 

 hairy caterpillar, black above, with a red fringe 

 on each side : it is preyed on by several ich- 

 neumons. 



124. The largest ichneumon (Pimpla Insti- 

 gator} of the tiger-moth ( Arctia caia) is often 

 about an inch long, but is of very various size ; 

 it has a black body and red legs, and has a re- 

 markably strong smell, something like burning 

 pitch. 



125. In the spring, this ichneumon may be 

 seen coursing over the leaves of lettuces, in cur- 

 rant bushes, on strawberry beds, nettles, &c. 

 hunting for the object of its attack. 



126. When it has found a caterpillar, it seizes 

 it behind the head with its jaws, at which opera- 

 tion the caterpillar looses its hold of the plant on 

 which it was feeding, rolls itself suddenly in a 

 ring, erects its bristles as stiffly as possible, and 

 falls on the ground ; if the fall is far, and among 

 twigs, the ichneumon is sometimes dislodged, but 

 this rarely happens. 



127. The female ichneumon has three bristles 

 at its tail, of which the middle one appears to be 

 a tube for conveying its eggs into the body of the 



