44 
HYMEN OPTERA* 
The pofterior part of the female is armed with a 
whimble, vifible in fome fpecies, and that inflrument, 
though fo fine, is able to penetrate through mortar 
and plafler ; the ftru£lure of it is more eafily feen in 
the long-whimbled fly. The food of the family, to 
be produced by this fly, is the larva of wafps, or 
mafon-bees ; for it no fooner efpies one of thofe nefts, 
but it £xes on it with its whimble. and bores through. 
J o 
the mortar of which it is built*. 
Some agglutinate their eggs upon caterpillars ; 
others penetrate through the egg, though very hard, 
and depofit their own in the infide* When the larva 
is hatched, its head is fo fituated, that it pierces the 
caterpillar and penetrates to its very entrails. Thefe 
larvae pump out the nutritious juices of the cater¬ 
pillar, without -attacking the vitals of the creature, 
who appears healthy, and even fometimes transforms 
ilfelf to a chryfalis^ 
The ichneumons performed fpecial fervice in the 
years 1731 and 1732, by multiplying in the fame 
proportion as the caterpillars ; their larvae deflroy- 
ing more of them than could be effe&ed by human 
induftry. 
The larvae, when on the point of turning into 
chryfalids, fpin a fi-lken cod ; thefe cods leap. 
Plant-lice, the larvae of the curculiones, and 
fpider’s eggs, are alfo fometimes the cradle of the 
ichneumon. 
C anares 
