ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS 

 OF THE SOUTH-AFRICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 



On Thursday, August 28th, 1890, 



By the President, L. Peringuey, F.L.S., F.ZJ8. 



PARASITIC BEES AND WASPS AND THEIR OWN PARASITES. 



Most Hymenoptera in the adult state live on vegetable substances. 

 The true male has only one role to accomplish, i.e., to fecundate. He 

 leads apparently an easy life, sunning himself, flying from flower to 

 flower, half intoxicated with sun and pollen ; but let a female of his 

 own species appear on the scene ; the behaviour of the dandy changes 

 immediately. Fights of a severe nature will ensue between him and 

 his numerous rivals ; he is victorious at last ; he fulfils his functions, 

 but as a rule does not long survive. - 



On the female now rests the responsibility not only of laying the 

 eggs but also of providing for the wants of the future larva, the small 

 grub which will issue from the egg. She has lived hitherto in a 

 secluded state, gorging herself upon the provisions stored for her by a 

 mother, as careful as she herself will be, to ensure the nourishment of 

 her progeny. She has quietly and unconsciously waited during a long 

 period of somnolence for the attainment of her mature state. Now she 

 must needs repeal the same cycle of existence her mother has led, and 

 follow the same method which has insured her existence, parasites 

 permitting. 



She will not herself be a parasite, but her larva will. That larva 

 will live at the expense of a host selected by its mother, either from 

 provisions prepared for another larva or even from the host itself. 



If the mother is an Ichneumon, let us follow her. First her passport, 

 so that she may be identified. Head short and rounded ; eyes 

 globular, generally very bright, three ocelli on the head, waist long 

 and tri-partite, on the sides four wings of gauze, more or less mottled, 

 abdomen very slender at the base (wasp-waist in fact), elongated, and 

 with an appendage at the tip consisting of two long setae covering an 

 ovipositor. If you do not recognize her after this description it is 

 because, as in all passports, descriptions vary ; just as noses are 

 differentiated in length and breadth so are the ovipositors of the 



