case of the great ichneumon before described, it is supposed the small ichneumon's egg is laid in the egg of the fly, while the latter is adhering to the skin of the caterpillar. The egg of the fly, which is placed on the neck of the caterpillar, the only part from which the caterpillar could not remove it, is very conspicuous to an observer: in this situation we cannot be surprised, then, that the ichneumon should discover it; nor does it appear an improbable supposition that the little creature seizes this opportunity of piercing the shell with her oviduct, and depositing her eggs amidst its contents. The maggot of the fly, as soon as it is hatched, pierces the skin of the caterpillar, and commences devouring, carrying within it a horde of insidious parasites, which, though they interfere not with the due performance of its appointed work of destruction, yet, in the end, so weaken it that it never arrives at perfection. Very ingenious experiments and calculations have proved, that four out of every five eggs that are laid, are prevented from arriving at maturity by parasites attacking them in one or other of their stages; a fact which proves the immense importance of this seemingly insignificant tribe of animals.

History of the Earwig.-The earwig is one of our most common insects; it is well known to every one, and is very generally an object of unconquerable dislike; the forceps at its tail, and the threatening manner in which these are turned over its back, to pinch anything of which it is afraid, render it peculiarly disgusting. The fore wings of the earwig are square, short, leathery pieces, which cover but a very small portion of the body: the insect is incapable of bending or folding them in any direction, or of using them as organs of flight. The hind wings are quite different from the fore wings they are folded into a very small compass, and covered by the fore wings, except a small portion which protrudes from beneath them; and, when examined in this

position, appear totally useless as organs of flight. When unfolded, the hind wings are remarkably beautiful; they are of ample size, perfectly transparent, displaying prismatic colours when moved in the light; and are intersected by veins, which radiate from near the centre to the margin.The shape of these wings, when fully opened, is nearly that of the human ear; and from this circumstance it seems highly probable that the original name of this insect was earwing.

Earwigs subsist principally on the leaves and flowers of plants, and on fruit; and they are entirely nocturnal insects, retiring by day into dark crevices and corners, where they are screened from observation. The rapidity with which they devour the petals of a flower is remarkable; they clasp the edge of a petal in their fore legs, and then, stretching out their head as far as possible, bite out a mouthful; then another mouthful nearer, and so on till the head is brought to the fore legs. This mode of eating is exactly that which is practised by the caterpillars of butterflies and moths; the part of a leaf or petal is eaten out in a semicircular form, and the head is thrust out to the extreme part, after every series of mouthfuls. Pinks, carnations, and dahlias, very frequently lose all their beauty from the voracity of these insects. When the time of breeding has arrived, which is generally in the autumn, the female retires for protection to the cracks in the bark of old trees, or the interstices of weather-boarding, or under heavy stones on the ground: here she commences laying her eggs. The eggs are usually from twenty to fifty in number: when the female has finished laying them, she does not forsake them as is the habit of other insects, but sits on them in the manner of a hen, until they are hatched.

When the little ones leave the shell, they are instantly

very perceptibly larger than the eggs which contained them. They precisely resemble the parent in structure and habit, except that they are without wings; they also differ in colour, being perfectly white. The care of the mother does not cease with the hatching of the eggs: the young ones run after her wherever she moves, and she continues to sit on them and brood over them with the greatest affection for many days. If the young ones are disturbed or scattered, or if the parent is taken away from them, she will, on the first opportunity, collect them again, and brood over them as carefully as before, allowing them to push her about, and cautiously moving one foot after another, for fear of hurting them. How the young ones are fed until the mother's care for them has ceased, does not appear to have been ascertained; for it is not until they are nearly half grown that they are seen feeding on vegetables with the rest.

History of the Locust.*-The locust, from the remotest ages, has had a greater power to injure man, than any other living creature. Its course is almost invariably accompanied by famine and pestilence: man is armed with no power to resist it. The locust was sent as a plague to the Egyptians, especially to punish them for their detention and oppression of the Israelites: the whole face of the country was covered by their multitudes. Afterwards, about the date 200 B.C., we have it on record, that locusts again swarmed in the same part of Africa. St. Augustin mentions another enormous swarm in the same region, which devoured every green leaf, and, eventually reaching the sea, perished by drowning the mass of their corrupted bodies created so great a stench, that a pestilence ensued which carried off nearly a million human beings. We are told by Mouffet, that in

* Authority:- Kirby and Spence's 'Introduction to Entomology.'

the year 591 a swarm of locusts visited Italy; they pursued their destructive course, devouring every thing, until they reached the sea, in which they perished. The pestilence arising from the stench, carried off men and beasts to the number of more than a million. In 1478 the Venetian territory was visited by a swarm of locusts, which so completely destroyed the crops as to cause a famine, wherein more than thirty thousand persons died of starvation. In 1650, a swarm of locusts entered Russia. As they passed, the air was darkened by their numbers; they covered the face of the earth; the trees bent with their weight; and in some places the mass of their dead bodies was four feet in depth. In 1748 a swarm of locusts visited the Austrian dominions : at Vienna the breadth of the swarm exceeded three miles, and so darkened the air, that one person could not see another at the distance of twenty paces. Major Moor witnessed in the Mahrattas, the ravages of a swarm of locusts that was five hundred miles in length, and so compact as completely to hide the sun, and occasion darkness. Mr. Barrow relates that in Southern Africa, in the years 1784 and 1797, a swarm of locusts covered an area of nearly two thousand square miles. When driven by a north-west wind into the sea, they formed upon the shore, for fifty miles, a bank three or four feet high: the stench from their putrifying bodies was perceptible at the distance of one hundred and fifty miles. In 1778 and 1780, a swarm of locusts visited Morocco; every green thing was eaten, and a dreadful famine ensuing, such vast numbers of people died of hunger in the streets of the towns, that their bodies lay unburied.

The egg of the locust is deposited in the ground; when it is hatched, the larva has all the appearance of a locust in miniature, except that it is without wings. Its work of destruction immediately commences; it devours every blade of grass-every green leaf it can obtain. In the autumn

it assumes the winged state, and then myriads assemble, and having stripped the earth of its mantle of green, rise in the air, and are driven by the wind, carrying with them destruction, famine, and pestilence. The shape and appearance of the locust is that of our commonest grasshopper, but it greatly exceeds that insect in size; it leaps with ease and agility, but, except in its migrations, does not readily fly. The jaws of the locust are excessively hard and strong, capable of devouring not only the leaves, but, when these fail, the bark and even the solid wood of trees. sound of their feeding, when in swarms, is as the rushing of flames driven by the wind. Happily, in this country, the locust is very rare; it has occasionally been driven over by winds, but has never been known to breed here. In the year 1748, a considerable number were observed, but not enough to do any serious injury.

The

History of the Ant-lion.*- The ant-lion is a native of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Turkey, and probably of most of the tropical countries: it is a large fly with four long wings, beautifully reticulated, like those of a common dragon-fly. The egg is laid by this fly either upon the surface of the ground or just below it, in sandy and loose soils; the heat of the sun soon causes it to hatch and pro

duce a larva. The larva, in shape, has a slight resemblance to a wood-louse; but the outline of its body is more oval, and the anterior part often considerably wider than the posterior: it has six legs, and the mouth is furnished with a pair of forceps, consisting of two incurved jaws, which give it a formidable appearance. Its food consists solely of the juices of other insects, particularly ants; at first view it seems scarcely possible that it should ever procure a

*Authority: -Kirby and Spence's 'Introduction to Entomology.'