. Insect architecture. Insects. 156 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. these two properties have never been combined in any of the tools of our carpenters. The rasping part of the ovipositor, however, is not constructed like our rasps, with short teeth thickly studded to- gether, but has teeth almost as long as those of the saw, and placed contiguous to them on the back of the instrument, resembling in their form and setting the teeth of a comb, as may be seen in the figure. Of course, such observations are conducted with the aid of a Portion of Saw jly's comb-toutlied rasp, ana saw When a fema
. Insect architecture. Insects. 156 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. these two properties have never been combined in any of the tools of our carpenters. The rasping part of the ovipositor, however, is not constructed like our rasps, with short teeth thickly studded to- gether, but has teeth almost as long as those of the saw, and placed contiguous to them on the back of the instrument, resembling in their form and setting the teeth of a comb, as may be seen in the figure. Of course, such observations are conducted with the aid of a Portion of Saw jly's comb-toutlied rasp, ana saw When a female saw-fly has selected the branch of a rose-tree, or any other, in which to deposit her eggs, she may be seen bending the end of her belly inwards, in form of a crescent, and protruding her saw, at the same time, to penetrate the bark or wood. She main- tains this recurved position so long as she works in deepening the groove; but when she has attained the depth required, she unbends her body into a straight line, and in this position works upon the place lengthways, by applying the saw more horizontally. When she has rendered the groove as large as she wishes, the motion of the tendons ceases, and an egg is placed in the cavity. The saw is then with- drawn into the sheath for about two-thirds of its length, and at the same moment, a sort of frothy liquid, similar to a lather made with soap, is dropped over the egg, either for the purpose of glu- ing it in its place, or sheathing it from the action of the juices of the tree. She proceeds in the same manner in sawing out a second groove, and so on in. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Rennie, James, 1787-1867. London, M. A. Nattali
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1846
