Note 89 — CHAP. V. THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY; OF INSECTS IN GENERAL, AND OF THEIR CONSTITUENT PARTS. (continued 3)

Inspector, No. 64.

[90] “The genus of insects called ichneumon derive their support and nourishment from other insects, some depositing their eggs in the larva, others again in the pupa, and some even in the ovum or egg itself, the contents of which, minute as they are, are sufficient to support the young larvæ until their change into their pupa state. Some deposit only one egg in a place, as the ichneumon ovulorum, and others again a great number, as ichneumon puparum, &c. but whether the egg be placed in the pupa, larva, or ovum, the destruction of the foster parent is inevitable. The larvæ of large moths or butterflies that have been wounded by an ichneumon, live and feed, though with evident marks of disease, until those parasites are full fed, and able to change into their second or pupa state.” See Observations on the Œconomy of the Ichneumon Manifestator, in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. 3, p. 23 & seq. by T. Marsham, Esq. Sec. L. S. Edit.