The Spider's Enemy.

Manawatu Herald, 10 June 1893, Page 3

The Spider's Enemy.

.jr. ; v»r(T ',)■;;, \ ., ;u :v A writer gives an interesting accpunt, of J/]tie curious^ Habits of the, ichneuinou fly of Ceylon, the natural eniSttJrof 'the spider. It is all thei riibre jntferes'ting as it illustrates the* method pprt r our 'I^lason 1 fiy. w He 8ay8 ? :-f-This: inject is green in color, and in%Vm l resenibies a waspi with a""jj|r^ ; jthiiji waist; It makes its 4fiS(t!o^^.well-worked clay,,: anil then,, goes out on a hunting expedition. Its victims are invariably spiders of various kinds, biU' all are subject to t^^m^m<Me";^^atni^fat; ;T : A a Bcientifid" sting ipje'cts 'soihe " poison whißli*effeci;ually paralyses the luckless*sj»derj w who is then oarried off to thVnest and there fastened' with a dab^jfjt iooist clay. Another and another- yiotim is brought to this chamber Jof horrors. Then the presoient mother ichneumon-fly pro(^eds^ttf deposit her eggs, one in the body of each spider, which can just. nitfy^ TTts'liegs ifi a vague, aimiess ttftitjpdri'butcan offer no resistance,. THis" done, the fly returns to her wprk . asi a mason. She prepares nipr^play and builds up the entrance to^ihis ghastly cell. Then she commences a new cell, which she furnishes in like manner, and closes ; then she adds yet another cell, and so proceeds till her store of eggs are alj provided* for, and, her task in litS ' 'Jfreing accomplished, she die's, leaving her evil brood to hatch at leisure. In due time these horrid li'twe maggots couiie to life and find themselves cradled in a larder of fresh fflqat. Each aqqx . s^id.e.r.is. s till alive, and his juices afford nutriment for the ichneumon grub,, tlH^it 's^sdy tP , i>Ms into . ita ch^y^ahj jjiage^.thence to emerge as a winged fly.ialiy prepared to carry

out thq traditions of its ancestors with regard to spiders, and to fulfil the purpose for which they have been created according to ichneumon belief.