MR. J. 13. BRIDGMAN ON UYMENOPTERA. 
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YI. 
NOTES ON UYMENOPTERA IN TILE NEIGHBOURHOOD 
OF NORWICH; AND ON THE GENUS GLYPTA, GR. 
P»y John B. Bridgman, F.L.S., F.E.S. 
Iieail 20 th October , 1SS0. 
I have been requested to give a paper to our Society, and in 
doing so I am perfectly aware how uninteresting it must be to the 
great majority of our readers. Although entomology is a favourite 
pursuit, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, or Beetles and Butterflies, are 
the orders generally studied. Hymenoptera, and some others are 
much neglected in favour of the moro popular Orders. During the 
last few years more interest has been taken in my order, and many 
lepidopterists now save the Ichneumons they breed, consequently, 
a great many new species are constantly occurring, and the 
sexes of many species have been made known, which would other- 
wise have remained, as formerly, under two distinct names and 
sometimes in different genera. Marshall’s list contained 118 G 
Ichneumons, and to that list I have added some four hundred 
species, or an increase of about one-third. 
Portions of this order till an important office in natural economy. 
For instance, Bees, in their visits to the various flowers for honey and 
pollen, are important agents in the fertilization of plants. Wasps 
help to keep down surplus population in the shape of Spiders, 
Caterpillars, and Flies ; all Wasps are carnivorous, and collect these 
to deposit their eggs on as food for their own larvae when hatched. 
Ichneumons, too, destroy an enormous quantity of Spiders and larvae 
of every other order of insects, and even the larvae of other 
Ichneumons, for it is not at all uncommon to breed Ichneumons 
from the pupae of other Ichneumons. It is not however my 
