3 ° 
•worked hard, few captures were made _ Still, we were not 
altogether disappointed, for oui first glimpse of the locality 
told us the well-known tale;— “ It is almost useless to expect to 
meet with other than very scanty numbers of Insects for two years 
at least after these severe fires.” At the close of the afternoon, 
in making a detour to arrive at the Railway Station, we came 
across about an acre of scrub which had escaped the fire, and 
this yielded us a large number of Insects. Here al«o we were 
favored with a sight, seldom seen except by the patient and 
ob c eivant entomologist, of the wav in which the Ichneumon 
flies oviposit into the larvae of the timber-destroying Longicorn 
beetles. The species furnishing the illustration was one of the 
largest Braconidae (Bracon sp.) not previously met with, and un- 
known to me, about an inch and three-quarters in expanse of 
wings with an ovipositor an inch and a half in length. The 
head and piotho.ax me orange in color, eyeyand antennae b'ack 
thorax black, wings smoky brown, first pair of legs reddish, second 
and third pairs black, abdomen shining black with four to five 
narrow pink bands, anterior part of abdomen with large patch 
of rank on sides and underside, making if a very handsome 
insect indeed. We were fortunate in capturing two males and 
three females. The male is much smaller than the female, as 
is usual in this Order. As soon as these insects loca :6 the position 
of the intmded victim in its gallen or tunnel, the ovipositor is 
forced through the bark and wood, until it pierces the skin of 
the larva, when an egg 01 eggs, a^ the case may be, is extruded 
into it. In a few days the minute larvae are hatched and commence 
to feed on the unfortunate host, carefully avoiding the vital 
organs until it has attained its full size, or else they form the 
concluding part of the living banquet, after which these cannibals 
seek a place close to the exit of the gallery and spin a large silken 
pupal chamber of a leathery nature, greyish white but sometimes 
yellow in color, in which they remain until the following spring 
before emerging. All these females had the ovipositoi inserted 
to its full length into the trank of a ” Whit# gam t-ee. Alter 
watching them for a tune they were carefully captured, this being 
a ri c k\ proceeding to w’tlidraw th’s exceedingly fine instrument 
without injury to it. A peison of ignorance would probably 
leave the ovipositor and part of the abdomen m the tree. 
J H. M. Giles. 
CANNINGTON, 2ND OCTOBER, 1909. 
Fourteen members attended this excursion. On arrival at 
our destination tlie party divided into sections, one going under 
Dr Tratman’s leadership, their special quest being Botanical 
specimens the remainder of the party, under Mr. Giles, devoting 
