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PLATE XLII. 



Ichneumons are the moll voracious of all the winged Infers j — in 

 their nature, robufc and powerful, and armed with a formidable {ling ; 

 they are the dread, and deftroyer of other tribes, and mortal enemies 

 to each other; like the animal * whence their fignificant appellation is 

 derived, they exift by rapine and plunder, and fupport their infant 

 offspring on the vitals of larger Infeifs. 



The female Ichneumon, when ready to lay her eggs, is feen eagerly 

 ruining from one plant to another, if its prey offers, which is generally 

 the Larva of the Phaltena, Papilio^ he. it darts down with the fero- 

 city of an eagle, and grafps the tender body in its claws ; it is now 

 in vain that the unwieldy animal attempts refiftance, as all its efforts 

 are but the fport of a favage conqueror. For raifmg the body almofr 

 upright, or into the form of a bow, the creature returns it in an in- 

 ftant, and daffies the fling up to the bafe, in the fofteft part of the ca- 

 terpillar's body; this, if undifturbed, it will repeat thirty or forty times, 

 always choofing a frefli fpot for every new wound, and often entirely 

 fcarifying the InfecL The flung animal refufes to eat, and fometimes 

 its illnefs terminates in its death, though generally the eggs are ma- 

 tured, and the Infedfs produced from the living body, fo that if it 

 furvives its mifery, and the wounds heal, the heat of the body ripens 

 the embryos, and the young Ichneumons gnaw, and tear large paflages 

 through the body, to complete their delivery. July and Auguft are 

 the Months thofe fpecies we have defcribed are on the wing. 



* The Ichneumon is a well known animal in Egypt, particularly near the river 

 Nile, and are ufeful for deflroying the Eggs of the Crocodile, &c. 



