CONTENTS. ix 
PAGE 
meat and convey it home—How they kill snakes—Native 
legend of the Python—Their mode of march—Fatal effects 
of the sunbeams—An extemporised arch—Method of escap- 
ing from floods—Site of their habitation—Modes of destroy- 
ing them—Living ladders and their structure—Method 
of crossing streams—Tenacity of life—A decapitated Ant— 
Mode of biting—Description of the insect—Curious nest of a 
Brazilian Wasp—Weight of the nest, and method of attach- 
ment—Variety of Polistes nest—Polistes aterrimus and its 
singular nest—Beautiful structure of an unknown Polistes . 57 
CHAPTER V. 
PARASITIC NESTS. 
Various Parasites—Parasitic Birds—The Cuckoo and its kin— 
The Cow Birb and its nest—Size of its egg—Comparison 
between the Cuckoo and the Apteryx—The Aipyornis—The 
BLUE-FACED HONEY-EATER or BATIKIN—General habits of 
the bird—Singular mode of nesting—The Sparrow-HAwk 
and its parasitic habits—The KesTreL—Its quarrel with a 
Magpie—The PuRPLE GRAKLE or Crow BLACKBIRD—Its 
curious alliance with the Osprey—Wilson’s account of the 
two birds—The SPARROW as a parasite—Curious behaviour 
of the SToRK—Parasitic insects—The ICHNEUMON FLIEs— 
The parasite of the CABBAGE CATERPILLAR—Its numbers and 
mode of making its habitation—Trap-doors of the cells—The 
Australian Cocoon and its parasites—The OAK-EGGER Motu 
—Its cocoons and enemies —The Puss MoTH—Its remarkable 
cocoon— Powerful jaws of the parasite—RuBY-TAILED FLIES 
and their victims— Modes of usurpation—The Cuckoo FLIES 
or Tachine—Parasites within pupee—Parasites on vegetables 
—The GALL-FLIES and their home—British Galls: their 
shapes, structures, and authors—Foreign Galls, and their 
uses . F 3 A . . . : ¢ . 83 
CHAPTER VI. 
PARASITIC NESTS (Continued). 
The Oak-tree, and its aptitude for nourishing Galls—CoMPouND 
GALLS, or one Gall within another—The SENSITIVE GALL 
of Carolina—The fungus of wine-vaults—Galls and the 
B 
