496 
Observations on the various Insects 
which stuck in the hole it had eaten with its strong jaws,* owing, in 
all probability, to the plants having been kept too dry. This 
parasite was first noticed and described by Oliviei-, and Dr. Herpin 
obtained it in such abundance that he states the number of parasites 
to have been almost as considerable as that of the Chlorops; and 
from my experience I am of the same opinion as to their numerical 
force. He also says that both broods of the Chlorops are equally 
subject to the attacks of tlie pai'asitic C(£linius, which usually 
hatches many days before the Chlorops, especially the males. 
With the egg and maggot of the Coelinius I am unacquainted — 
indeed the former must be too minute to be visible with the naked 
eye — but in all probability it is inserted into the maggot of the 
Chlorops, and feeds u^aon its fat until it changes to a pupa, which 
I found placed in the groove of the wheat-stem (pi. L, fig. 25. a; 
fig. b being the same magnified). A little above this pupa I ob- 
served a round hole (c) in some of the spathes, through which the 
parasites had made their exit ; and it is worthy of remark that 
their wings are perfectly developed and ready for flight before they 
sally forth, whereas the Chlorops comes out with soft unexpanded 
wings, which it is necessary to expand and dry in the open air. 
This parasite, like most of those desciibcd in former Essays, 
belongs to the Order Hymenoptera, Family Ichneumonides 
ADsciTi, and the Genus Ccelinius.j Olivier also described it 
under the name of Alysia nigra ; and Guerin, to pay a compli- 
ment to that distinguished naturalist, named it Alysia Olivierii. J 
It is undoubtedly the Chcenon ajffinis of my work, which is synony- 
mous with Nees ab Esenbeck's Cwliaius ni(jer,\ and accidentally 
accords with Olivier's name, which has the right of priority. 
14. C. niger (fig. 35). — Reddish brown or piceous : antennne, 
head, and thorax, shining black ; tlu^ former as long as the animal, 
slender, and composed of numerous subquadrate joints, basal 
joint most robust, third the largest; the head is globose-quadrate; 
face convex; the mouth is furnished with a pair of divaricating 
jaws, terminated by four unequal teeth ; the four feelers are long, 
especially the maxillary ; the eyes are remote and lateral ; ocelli 
three, large, and forming a triangle on the crown ; thorax very 
much elongated, and not broader than the head ; postscutel large, 
semi-orbicular, and coarsely punctured ; abdomen as long as the 
head and thorax, and broader at the middle, pale piceous, the 
Haliday in his Monosjraph been satisfied of their identity; because Nees 
says the maxillary palpi are five-jointed, wliereas they are undoubtedly 
.six-joiiited in the specimens of Cliceium I have examined and figured. Vide 
Curtiss Hrit. Ent., I'd. and pi. 289, fig. 4. 
* Ibid., figs. 1* and 3. •!• Curtis's Guide, genus (362. 
$ Notice sur ijuelques Insectes nuisibles, p. 2G and pi. 4, 1". 1 and 2. 
§ Hymenopterorum Ichn. affinis Monog. vol. i. p. 10. 
