122 
HYMENOTTER A. 
probably alarm them and cause them to become restive; 
but the tail filament is not a stinging organ but an 
o o o 
ovipositor, of curious structure, by means of which the 
female drills a hole in the wood, usually fir, into which 
she deposits her eggs, from which are developed blind 
grubs with six true legs, all the abdominal ones being 
absent. These larvae often cause great damage in pine 
forests—the wood of which they intersect by their 
burrows—but they are also found on other trees, as on 
the hornbeam and willow. It is supposed that British 
specimens have been introduced in the larva or pupa 
state in foreign timber. Another large species of Sir ex 
—or Urocerus (Horn-tail) as the genus is now often 
called—the S. juvencus is sometimes found in this 
country. The male is yellow and black, but the 
female is dark black with a violet tinge. On one or 
two occasions this species has been sent to me. 
The sub-section, Entomopliarja , contains the Ichneu¬ 
mons, Puiby-tails, and Gall-flies ; though these latter 
are noo insect eaters—for they feed on the juices of the 
gall—they are generally placed in this division, because 
in other respects they have their affinities with the 
other insects of the sub-section. All the insects of the 
insect-eating Borers, excepting some of the Gall-flies, 
are parasitic, some depositing their eggs within the 
bodies of other insects or insect-larvae, where they hatch, 
develope, and feed on the fat or juices of their doomed 
hosts, others placing their eggs in the nests of other 
insects, where the larvae either consume provisions 
destined for others, or where food lias already been 
stored by the parent insect. This sub-section, Entomo- 
phaga, contains two divisions, viz., the Dart-bearers, 
