232 . HYMENOPTERA. 
chrysalids, leaving the caterpillar an 
empty skin. 
Lucy. Poor miserable caterpillars ! so 
these little ichneumons eat out the inside 
of the poor creature in which they live ? 
Mother, They do not destroy the 
vital parts^ but are contented with suck- 
ing out the nutritious juices, which the 
caterpillar derives from its food : some- 
times the caterpillar has sufficient strength 
to change into a chrysalis, but the fly 
never perfects its shape, nor attains its 
proper size, having been deprived of its 
nourishment by these internal enemies. 
Some ichneumons lay their eggs in 
spiders' bags ; others pierce through the 
hard substance, like mortar, of which the 
outside of a wasp's nest is formed, and 
place their eggs near the cell, where the 
^SS ^"^ ^^ larva of the wasp is lodged ; 
to this the young ichneumon soon pe- 
netrates. Some oF the small ichneu- 
mons insert their eggs into the eggs of 
moths and butterflies ; and when the 
