@bhe Acientific Cnyuiver. 
wULY, -18se 
A Short Sketch of the Ichneumons. 
By G. H. Bryan, B:A. 
CHAPTER I. 
ETTING aside the Lepidoptera, it is certainly remarkable 
how little attention has been devoted to the study of 
insects in general in this country, whilst in conse- 
quence of the scarcity of collectors of such insects as 
Hymenoptera and Diptera there are considerable 
difficulties in the way of identifying species of these 
orders. Perhaps the Ichneumons are as _ troublesome to 
determine as any other group of insects, if not more so. The 
following sketch is intended merely as an introduction to the study 
of this large group of Hymenoptera. 
Their numbers are so great that a mere list of the genera and 
species would occupy far more room than is at my disposal. I 
have therefore selected those species which best serve as examples 
of the different families, and have endeavoured to collect that 
information which may be most needed by anyone beginning to 
take up the study, in the hopes that some collectors, having 
plenty of time at their disposal, may do so. 
The insects known collectively as Ichneumons belong to the 
LfTymenoptera terebrantia, in which the females are provided with 
boring ovipositors, and are thus distinguished from the Hymenop- 
tera aculeata, in which the ovipositor is modified into the form of 
a sting, and used as a weapon of defence. 
There are two families to which the common name of Ichneu- 
mon is.applied indiscriminately: the BRACONID& or BRACONITES, 
and the ICHNEUMONID#& or ICHNEUMONITES, which latter family 
alone have a true claim to the appellation. In Germany, the true 
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