Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . Fig. 255.—Crabro subtercaneus. (Black ami yellow.) On Plate VIII. Fig. 1 is shown a pretty insect of NorthernIndia, called Trypoxylon rejector. The generic name is formed from two Greek words, andsignifies a wood-borer. As may be inferred from that namethe generality of the insects belonging to this genus bore holesin wood. Several species of Trypoxylon inhabit England, andhave been noticed to enter the burrows of other insects. , having seen this done several times, naturally
Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . Fig. 255.—Crabro subtercaneus. (Black ami yellow.) On Plate VIII. Fig. 1 is shown a pretty insect of NorthernIndia, called Trypoxylon rejector. The generic name is formed from two Greek words, andsignifies a wood-borer. As may be inferred from that namethe generality of the insects belonging to this genus bore holesin wood. Several species of Trypoxylon inhabit England, andhave been noticed to enter the burrows of other insects. , having seen this done several times, naturally thoughtthat the insect was a parasitic one. Afterwards, however, hefound that the only object was to save itself trouble, and thatthe Trypoxylon merely enlarged the burrows and then lined themwith sand. One species makes a number of successive cells PLATE VIII. INSECT USURPERS. 477 in eacli burrow, placing a single egg in every cell, and accom-panying it with spiders, more or less in number according totheir size. One small species, Trypoxylon alternatum, may often befound in the dead and broken stems of roses and brambles, theinsect boring away the soft pith and constructing a series ofcells, each separated from its neighbour by a wall of sand. Thecells are stocked with small spiders, and if the stem be carefullycut open, the cocoons may be seen all in a row, each cocoonfilling as exactly as possible the cell in which the larva hasbeen reared. Whatever may be the case with the British species, it isevident that some of the foreign Trypoxylons are parasitic uponother insects, or at all events that they take possession of theirnests iu order to avoid the trouble of making burrows for them-selves. The reader will remember that in the account of Para-pison rufipcs Mr. Home mentioned that he had bred from itspecimens of Trypoxylon intrudens. The
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1883
