580 
Insects. 
All kinds of Wasps make curious nests ; some attach 
them to the beams of a bam or other building, or place 
them in the hollow of a large tree, but the common Wasp 
digs a hole in the ground. Wasps do not construct 
their combs with quite the same care and accuracy as 
the bee ; nevertheless, their nests are often very in- 
geniously made, and the material employed by most of 
them is curious, being a sort of paper or card made from 
fibres of wood masticated between the jaws of the 
insects. As they do not lay up a store of honey for their 
support during winter, they mostly die at that season ; 
and the few that live remain in a torpid state till spring. 
Their sting is very large ; and the poisonous liquor of 
it, when introduced into the human bod}% excites inflam- 
mation and creates very considerable pain. 
,"~ 
THE ICHNEUMON FLY. (Pimpla persuasoria.) 
The mouth of this insect has jaws, but no sucking tongue. 
The antennae contain more than thirty joints ; and the 
abdomen is joined to the body by a slender 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 applied to them from the service they do us by 
destroying caterpillars, plant-lice, and other insects ; as 
