. Annual report of the Trustees of the State Museum of Natural History for the year ... Science; Museums. 158 Forty-first Report on the State Museum. its large size and peculiar appearance, a distinguished member of the large family of Ichneumonidce, the province of whose members it is to prey upon other insects, often so effectively as to rid us of some of our greatest insect scourges, when all human efforts to arrest their multiplication and injuries have been of no avail. It Preys upon Tretnex columba. The trees in which T. lunator is often seen inserting its long ovi- positor for the depos
. Annual report of the Trustees of the State Museum of Natural History for the year ... Science; Museums. 158 Forty-first Report on the State Museum. its large size and peculiar appearance, a distinguished member of the large family of Ichneumonidce, the province of whose members it is to prey upon other insects, often so effectively as to rid us of some of our greatest insect scourges, when all human efforts to arrest their multiplication and injuries have been of no avail. It Preys upon Tretnex columba. The trees in which T. lunator is often seen inserting its long ovi- positor for the deposit of its eggs, are largely infested by the grubs of the pigeon Tremex, Tremex co- lumba Linn., upon which the larva of T. lunator, preys. The perfect insect is a large, wasp-like creature, as shown in Figure 16, with narrow, semi - transparent, smoky - brown wings, a reddish head and thorax, and a long, cylindrical, black body, marked with seven yellow bands, most of which are inter- FiG. 16.—The Pisreon Tremex — Teemex rupted on the middle. The body coLUMBA,-female. ^^^^,^ beneath a black ovipositor of about an inch in length, projecting three-eighths of an inch beyond its tip, held in place by two guides — the whole forming a stout, horn- like instrument, whence we have the common name of " horn-tails " for this insect and its associate Uroceridm. The Tremex larvse run their large and destructive burrows in the trunks of the maple, beech, elm, oak, sycamore, apple, pear, etc., not infrequently causing the death of the tree when the attack has been long continued. How Thalessa Oviposits. The operation of boring for oviposition has been described by Mr. Harrington, as follows: Sitting upon the bark where ^perforations mark the exits of pre- vious occupants, she runs arouiid until she finds a promising spot, as, for instance, the hole made by a Tremex in depositing her eggs. Placing herself so that the tip of the abdomen will be above the orifice to be probed, s
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