70 THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



the abdomen before, I now enclose it trusting you will be able to name it for 

 me. — J. Rosewear." 



The enclosed insect is Pezomachus zonatus, I am not surprised at its being 

 taken for an ant. All the female Pezomachi are very ■ ant-like, but can at 

 once be recognised by the ovipositor protruding beyond the last abdomnal 

 segment ; shape of the head, antennae, &c. The male Pezomachi are nearly 

 all winged, and most of them, when bred, I have no doubt, will be placed 

 in the genus Uemiteles, for in that genus there are many males without 

 partners, and in the genus Pezomachus there are many females in the same 

 predicament, from these remarks it will be seen that unless the males and 

 females are bred from the same host, it is impossible to assign them to their 

 proper partners, from their difference of structure and often of colour, and 

 this we cannot hope to do until the breeders of lepidoptera and other orders, 

 will assist in the work, by sending all their bred specimens to the workers of 

 this order.* 



I must plead guilty of neglecting for twenty years, to save my bred 

 ichneumons, but during the greater part of that time I believe no one worked 

 at them, or 1 certainly should have sent them to the individual ; it is only by 

 co-operation that we shall be able to solve many of the problems among the 

 ichneumons, and I may here remark that cocoons, large or small, sent to 

 workers of this order, will be doubly acceptable, when they are from a known 

 host. I am sorry to say these little fellows get so awfully rigid after death 

 that they soon become useless, and unless they are well set it is an impossi- 

 bility to name them, therefore, I earnestly hope that those who do find 

 ichneumon cocoons in their breeding cages will send them forthwith to the 

 individual who is to be favoured. 



With respect to Pezomachus zonatus, I have bred both male and female 

 from spiders nests, Agelena brunnea ; these nests are made, on stems of grass, 

 heath, and I suppose many other things. The nest is very curious ; it is 

 fastened to the side of the selected object, and when finished is covered with 

 particles of mud, of whatever colour is most prominent on the road, so that 

 it shall resemble a splash of mud. To make it more explicit, I have seen 

 them of three colours within a mile, first they were black from the road, 

 being composed, or rather covered, with peat or bog-earth ; turning out of 

 this road there was a cutting through red soil, there they were red ; not far 

 from this the wagons laden with china clay pass all the year round, conse- 

 quently the road is white from portions of clay falling off daily, there they 

 were white. 



*Mr. Bridgman, 69, St. Giles Street, Norwich; Mr. Bignell, Stonehaven, Plymouth; 

 Mr. Fitch, Maldon, Essex..— J. E. R. 



