THE CHRYSIDIDJE, ICHNEUMONID^E AND 

 BRACONID.E OF GUERNSEY. 



BY MR. W. A. LUFF, F.E. 



The species included in the above-mentioned families are 

 members of that large section of insects, named the Hymen- 

 optera, of which I have already published lists of the Aculeata 

 (Ants, Bees and Wasps), Cynipida (Gall Insects), and 

 Tenthredinidce (Saw Flies). The present list will complete 

 the order, with the exception of the Chalcidce, which comprise 

 a vast number of insects, mostly minute, and many of which 

 are but little known. 



The Chrysididce, or Ruby Wasps, are excessively bril- 

 liant in colour, red, green and blue, with a metallic gloss. 

 The commonest species, Chrysis ignita, is usually very 

 abundant in fine sunshiny weather, settling on walls, sand 

 banks, &c, and running with great activity. The larvae live 

 within the nests of bees, eating the food intended for their 

 young. 



The Ichneumonidce, or Ichneumon Flies, form a family of 

 enormous extent. Most of the species, in the larval state, 

 live within the larvae of Lepidoptera ; some, however, are 

 known to attack spiders and insects of other orders. Their 

 life history is but little known, as they are concealed within 

 the body of their victim until they have completed the change 

 into the pupa state. The parent insect lays its eggs by means 

 of an ovipositor inside the body of its victim in some cases, 

 in others outside the skin. In the latter case, the young 

 larva soon bores into the body of the caterpillar and disap- 

 pears. The larvae are legless maggots, usually of a white or 

 creamy colour, they feed on the fatty portion of the interior 

 of the caterpillar, and carefully avoid injuring any of the vital 

 organs until the time arrives when they are about to change 

 into the pupa, when they usually finish by killing their host. 



