THE SUBSTITUTE. 
225 
Comes the parasite ichneumon, 
With its long antennae quiv’ring, 
With its wings all bright and shiv’ring, 
Quite transparent, often tinted 
Like the evanescent rainbow ; 
They are insects slender-waisted, 
And their tail is armed with bristles. 
Three long, sharp, and piercing bristles. 
Which they plunge into their victims. 
And then leave an egg within them : 
Most of them have feet five-jointed. 
But a few, minute and burnished. 
Like winged gems so bright their colours, 
Have the feet four and three-jointed. 
All the tribe we call ichneumons. 
Parasites, Ichneumonina. 
Next the rubywasps invite us. 
Clad in mail of gorgeous colours ; 
Blue and green, carmine and purple, 
Gliding over walls or palings ; 
Who is there that has not watched them. 
As with vibrating antennae 
They inspect each crack and cranny, 
Seeking out the nests of wallwasps, 
Masonbees, or bees that build in 
Posts or mortared walls, or sandbanks. 
Forming there the cosy dwellings. 
Dwellings for their future young ones? 
When these dwellings she discovers 
The sly’ rubywasp deposits 
All her eggs among the larvre, 
With a weapon telescopic- 
Fashioned, joint in joint retractile, 
And her young, when hatched, devour up 
All the food that was provided 
For the young of bees and wallwasps ; 
Let us call them Chbysidina, 
Rubywasps, or Chrysidiua. 
Their antennse short and elbowed. 
Their wings clear and almost rayless. 
Their feet always are five-jointed, 
Their waist is almost divided. 
But the two parts are united 
By a very short peduncle. 
Next these come the stinging insects. 
Bees and wasps, sandwasps and pismires. 
