Reproduction of Insects. 67 



Certain wasps use the powerful weapon with 

 which they are provided, to sting other insects, 

 which are thereby paralyzed, and in this condition 

 stored in the nests to feed young wasps. Thus is 

 a store of living food laid up. 



A caterpillar stung by a wasp will often trans- 

 form into a chrysalis or pupa, though too weak to 

 change to a moth, and thus feebly living will yield 

 itself as food to its enemy. 



Insects have no greater foes than each other. 

 Constantly threatened by the sister life about them, 

 as well as by innumerable other foes, the exorbi- 

 tant fertility of the insect results, as a rule, in the 

 maturing of but few offspring. 



The ovipositor is the mother's greatest hope in 

 insuring success to her offspring. By its help she 

 can hide her eggs, supply provisions for them, or 

 otherwise assist them to a position of advantage in 

 the struggle for life upon which they must enter. 



The grasshopper uses her large, strong oviposi- 

 tor to bore holes in the ground, or in stems of 

 plants, and into these holes the same hollow ovi- 

 positor conducts the eggs as they leave the 

 oviduct. 



The katydid uses the end of her ovipositor to 

 shave off and roughen the bark of the twig upon 

 which she lays her eggs, fastening them in place 

 by a gummy substance which she exudes. 



Thus do we find the egg-duct of the insect sup- 

 plemented by a powerful auxiliary that pierces, or 



