CHAPTER XLVIII
BENEFICENT PARASITES
Continuing the subject of the day before, Uncle Paul laid emphasis on the distinction between those hymenopterous insects that sting and those that do not.
“At the end of the abdomen,” said he, “the one class have a poisoned weapon for self-defense, as in bees and wasps, while the other class are furnished simply with the implement called a terebra, sometimes concealed in a fold of the skin, sometimes standing out in full view, and used, not for stinging, but for introducing the creature’s eggs into such places as will provide the nourishment required by the future brood. Insects of this latter class are called by the general name of ichneumons. This morning Emile caught one, which I will show you.”
“I found it on a flower,” said Emile, “and I wrapped a handkerchief round my hand for fear of being stung. The thing it has sticking out at the end of its body looks rather dangerous.”
“The precaution was needless,” his uncle assured him. “No ichneumon, however long its terebra may be, can sting your hand. The hymenopters that are to be feared have their sting hidden, and they bring it out only at the moment of attack.” [[350]]
“Those three thread-like things as long as the insect’s body—what are they for?” asked Jules.
“The two lateral ones unite and form a scabbard for holding and protecting the middle one, the most important of the three, for it is used to deposit the eggs at the point chosen as suitable by the insect.”
“I’ve seen ichneumons very much like this one,” said Louis, “with the terebra stuck right into the thick bark of a poplar. They must have been laying their eggs in the wood under the bark.”