498 ICHNEUMON. 



in that poGtIon ; for the joung animals prodated fi'oi¥| 

 them eafily make their way into the body of the cater* 

 pillar on which they vtere placed. 



Various are the fiz,es of this carnivorous race : Some 

 are fo fmall, that the plant loufe, the curculio, or the fpi- 

 der's egg, is made the cradle for their young ; and all 

 the infe£ls upon which they fix undergo the fame fatal 

 delliny, fooner or later periHiing by their depredations. 

 Thofe carcafes of plant lice which are feen motionlefs on 

 the vofe-trce leaf, have been each the habitation of a fmall 

 larva, which, after having devoured the intrails of the 

 plant loufe, has performed its inetamorphofis under the 

 empty (kin, from which it has afterwards fallied forth a 

 winged ichneumon. 



But though many of thefe infects are fo extremely mi- 

 jiute, there are others, whicli, frcrti their lize and intre- 

 pidity, are formidable to the fplder. Many of thefe chal- 

 lenge that animal to open combat, and having run him 

 through with their ftings, tear him to pieces j thus a- 

 yenging the v;hole race of flies of the injuries they fufFer 

 from that mod dreaded enemy of their kind. 



Ichneumon aphidum. This infedt is almofl wholly 

 black ; the abdomen, towards the bafe, and the feet, are 

 yellow J the antennae are black. This fpecies, when 

 about to depofit its eggs, bends the abdomen till the 

 anus nearly approaches the thorax, and thus penetrates 

 into the anus of the plant loufe, in which it lodges its pro- 

 geny f. 



The parafitic ichneumon J. The larva of this infetl 

 adheres to the body of a caterpillar, upon which it feeds. 



The 



f Regne Animalc Ord. V. Gen. iii. fpcc. 3. 

 i Vide A6les d'Upfal, 1 736, p. 29, N. jl. 



