1 



1 have seen this insect alive in Norfolk : it has also been taken in 

 Somersetshire; and my friend Mr. Dale found one in his orchard 

 in Dorsetshire, which induced us to search for a wasp's nest, and 

 havinnf found one in the neighbourhood, we destroyed and dug it 

 up, and at night it was conveyed home in a vessel closely covered, 

 and upon examining it the next morning I had the gratification of 

 releasing a male from one of the cells, the external figure of which 

 was sexagonal, but the operculum was circular ; and the same struc- 

 ture is exhibited in one received from Mr. Hope. 



The eggs no doubt are deposited in the cells of the wasps, for 

 which purpose the acute abdomen of the female is well adapted ; 

 and the larvae, when hatched, are probably nourished by the wasps 

 as their own offspring: — the perfect insect, from the smallness of 

 its mouth and the weakness of its organs, cannot, however, be a 

 very formidable enemy. When it emerges from the chrysalis, it 

 leaves the nest and resorts to neighbouring flowers, like the rest of 

 the Mordellida; : the wasps therefore can sustain no other injury 

 than that which arises from the few cells occupied by the larvee. 



The fly discovered by Mr. Denison, and lately alluded to as an 

 Ichneumon by the Rev. E. Bigge in his interesting " Observations 

 on the Natural History of two species of Wasps," is no doubt the 

 Ripiphorus. " The fly," he says, " deposits its eggs upon the grub 

 of the wasp at the moment it assumes the pupa: as soon as the egg 

 is hatched it devours the grub of the wasp entirely, and itself assumes 

 the pupa and imago form in the cells of the wasp." Vide Trans, 

 of the Ashmolean Soc.for 1835, p. 27. 



The smaller figure in the plate, representing the natural size, is 

 the female, and from its different colour was considered by Panzer 

 a distinct species, which he called B. angidatus; the figure of the 

 male is magnified ; it is not only distinguished from the other sex 

 by its colour, but by its beautiful flabellated antennae. 



The plant is Achillea Millefoliiiin, Common Yarrow. 



\ 



