Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . sessing a petiolated cellwhich does not exist in the fully developed wing of the female. Another species, Megalyra fascipennis, also an Australianinsect, is much of the same size and colour, except that thereare no patches of white hairs, and that the wings are pale, witha broad dark bar across the middle. In the insects belonging to the. genus Pelecinus, a verysingular structure will be observed. Instead of having a short 390 INSECTS ABROAD. abdomen and a long ovipositor, the abdomen is
Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . sessing a petiolated cellwhich does not exist in the fully developed wing of the female. Another species, Megalyra fascipennis, also an Australianinsect, is much of the same size and colour, except that thereare no patches of white hairs, and that the wings are pale, witha broad dark bar across the middle. In the insects belonging to the. genus Pelecinus, a verysingular structure will be observed. Instead of having a short 390 INSECTS ABROAD. abdomen and a long ovipositor, the abdomen is exceedingly long,and the ovipositor short. The abdomen, indeed, is lengthenedso greatly, that at a hasty glance the insect looks exactly like aDragon Fly. In this respect it bears a singular contrast to theKvanias, which seem to be all thorax and hind-legs, the abdomenbeing a mere insignificant little appendage to the large insects inhabit North America, and in some districts areexceedingly common. The specimen which is here figured wasbrought from Trenter Falls, New York, by Mr. Fig. 192.—Polecinus jiolylurator.(Shining black.) On looking at any of these insects, it is evident that the longabdomen answers the same purpose as the long ovipositor, andthat it enables the insect to deposit its eggs in the body of somelarva which it could not otherwise reach. A visitor to theBritish Museum lately said that in the pine forests of Canadathe Pelecini absolutely swarmed, and that hundreds of themmight be found on the trunks of the trees dead and stiff, withtheir abdomen thrust deeply into the burrow made by somewood-boring insect. In some places they were so numerousthat a dozen or so could be swept off by a single stroke of thehand down the tree-trunk. This characteristic anecdote at once VALUE OF THE ICHNEUMON FLIES. 397 establishes the exceeding value of the Pelecini in saving thepine forests from insect destroyers, and shows how wonderfullythe balance of N
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1883
