Volume 29, Plate XXXI / Entomology (Insects)

Sirex Gigas, Tremex Columba & Joppa Picta

1. Sirex Gigas. This very distinct genus contains about half a dozen conspicuous British species, of which S. gigas is rare but found occasionally in the southern counties of England, generally frequenting pine woods. The male’s abdomen is yellow with a black hinder extremity, the female black with the second and three last segments yellow, while the larvae live in trees to which they sometimes prove very injurious.
2. Tremex Columba. This species exemplifies the Siricidae of the New World, being a native of the country round New York and other parts of North America. The head and thorax are brown-orange, the cylindrical black abdomen marked with five broad yellow bands the hindmost of which is interrupted, the apex also tipped with yellow, and the legs orange-brown.
3. Joppa Picta. This and the next exemplify the extensive family Ichneumonidae, whose members lay their eggs in the bodies of caterpillars and other insects, the young feeding on the victim’s entrails, and which are armed with a long slender ovipositor and known by their narrow petiolated form. Over thirteen hundred European species have been described; the genus Joppa is chiefly distinguished by antennae thickened beyond the middle and ending in a point, the figured species native to South America.