The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-09
FILLS A NICHE.
Ichneumon Fly Has a
Place In the
World.
is IN Truth A DDEEHHfFACTOR.
West Side People Should
Give a Welcome to This
Horrible" Insect.
is IN Truth A 66ffHHEFACTOR.


The people on the west side have been
in state of anxiety bordering on
anguish for several weeks past, owing
to the appearance of what seemed to
be horrible insect of the most malign-
ant type, with an appetite for elm
trees and ornamental shrubbery.
They thought, that is, some of them
thought, that it must be a new kind of
gypsy moth, only worse, that would
destroy all the shade trees, and when
they were gone. wreak his vengeance
on the frame houses and fences, per-
haps.
| And the personal appearance of the
bug seemed to warrant such belief.
With long body, something of a
| cross between a wasp and dragon
| ny, beautifully marked with yellow
| stripes and spots, with long, creepy
/ legs and sweeping yellow "feelers," he
aid seem part of a horrible dream. But
what gave him the most terrifying
/ look was the three long streamers
| which struck out behind when he flew
or were used as props. when he rested
on tree to do his deadly work. And
| 1t was with one of these streamers that
the work was done. He would curl it
under his body first and then would
slowly and surely bore into the tree
and supposedly lay an egg there.
| That is just the way with people.
They refuse to recognize blessings in
disguise. Or they judge man by the
| coat he wears, or his markings, if he
| happens to be bug. This creature of
distorted imagination, this disturber of
| the peace on the west side, was nothing
| but harmless ichneumon fly, as valu-
| able benefactor to mankind as there
| is in the insect world.
| Scientifically, he is known as Pimpla
| (Rhyssa) atrator, belonging to the ge-
nus ichneumonae order hymenSptera
class articulata, Vulgarly, he is called
long stinger," chiefly because he don't
sting, and couldn't If he wanted to-.
| That is, he don't sting people He re-
serves all his energies for other insects
| preferably for caterpillars and the lar
vac of wood-boring insects. And he
eats mosquitoes and such small deer
without compunction. Taken alto
| gether, especially when one knows
what he does for a living, he is rather
benign individual with a discriminate
ing cast of eountenance.
1t is interesting to know how he car
ries on his warfare. And it is euual-
lily interesting to know that he does IL
with a thought for his or her children.
| Those long streamers that look so
frightful are not there for ornament,
like a paradise aigrette on a woman
hat; they are for use only. The mid
die one, which can be curled up UNDER
meath when necessary, is the ovipostor.
or egg-placer, and the other two are
used as balancers when the "Pimpla
atrator" is flying, as guides when the
eggs are being deposited.
/ The people who thought the elm trees
ION Harvard street were being filed
with eggs from this beast. and were
afraid they might be Matched out into
real dragons or something worse, were
partly right. The trees were being filled
with eggs, and these eggs would turn
into something worse than dragons ever
got to be in even the Oldest story
The only difference is in size and tenn
| permanent. The egg of the ichneumon
i fly, especially of this species, is laid in
the body of a wood-boring insect, or
rather in that of the larva, and re-
mains there until hatched the wood
| boring youngster all the time going on
with his boring and eating, never
dreaming that he is harboring an un-
| welcome guest. When the ichneumon
egg is Matched, the baby Pimpla atra-
tor, then wingless, legless grub, look
ing no more like his parent than YOU
do, begins to eat, too Begins to eat
the body of his benefactor. who has
sheltered him in his earliest infancy.