INSECTS. 487 
do not lay up a store of honey to support them during 
winter, they mostly die at that season ; and what few live 
remain in a torpid state till spring. Their sting is very 
large ; and the poisonous liquor from it, when introduced 
into the human body, excites inflammation, and creates 
very considerable pain. Wasps do not swarm, and they 
have no queen. 
THE ICHNEUMON FLY. 
THE mouth of this insect has jaws, without any tongue. 
The antennae contain more than thirty joints; and the ab- 
domen is generally joined to the body by a pedicle. The 
ovipositor is enclosed in a cylindrical sheath, composed of 
two valves. 
One distinguishing and striking characteristic of all the 
species of this kind of fly is the almost continual agitation 
of their antennae. The name of Ichneumon has been ap- 
plied to them from the service they do us by destroying 
caterpillars, plant-lice, and other insects ; as the Ichneu- 
mon or mangouste destroys the crocodile in the East. The 
tip of the abdomen of the females is armed with an oviposi- 
tor, visible in some species, though not in others; and 
this instrument, though so fine, is able to penetrate through 
mortar and plaster. This instrument the female fly uses 
