_Gonotopus australis_ is a tiny wingless ant-like creature about ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length, which attacks jassids and fulgorids feeding upon grass and low herbage. This species comes from Bundaberg Queensland; but Koebele has bred a second species about ⅛ of an inch in length, of a general brownish colour, from a Jassid collected near Parramatta. The curious little sacs or larval bags of these parasites can be readily noticed projecting from the sides of the thoracic segments. Most of these insects have well developed wings, but, according to Koebele’s observations, they stalk their prey when looking for the host for their egg. Family 8. Larger Parasitic Wasps. ICHNEUMONIDAE. These are commonly known as Ichneumon Flies, and the family is a very extensive one. They play an important part in the economy of Nature in destroying thousands of the moth and other larvae that would otherwise strip our fields and forests of their grass and foliage, and they are therefore useful allies to the agriculturist; though they also often destroy other beneficial insects as well as pests, and thus discount their usefulness. Ichneumon Flies are moderately sized insects furnished with long slender antennae composed of from 16 to upward of 60 joints, with the basal one often thickened, but never elbowed. The wings are well developed, with a distinct stigma and numerous nervures forming regular cells; a few species are wingless in both sexes, but these exceptional ones have not been recorded from this country. The legs are long, generally slender, and well adapted for running about; the abdomen is usually long, rounded or cylindrical, joined to the thorax on the under side, and more or less stalked, while the ovipositor of the female is characteristic of the group and adapted or modified for laying the eggs in or upon the different hosts they prefer to adopt for their offspring; when they infest wood boring caterpillars that are somewhat out of reach, the ovipositor is correspondingly long and the sheath and “tails” produced so as to guide the eggs to their resting place on the grub, out of the sight of the parent ichneumon. When the species lays its eggs on the back of leaf-eating insects with no protective covering, the ovipositor is generally short and stout, the tip sometimes so stiff and sharp, that several species are credited with stinging people when handled. The little wasp-grub, hatching from the egg either deposited on the back or placed beneath the skin, feeds upon the substance of the body of its victim without touching the vital organs, so that in most instances where the caterpillar of a moth is infested, it yet has the power to form its cocoon and pupate before the wasp-grub has finished growing; the latter thus finishes its final transformation in the destroyed moth pupa, and cuts its way out through the side of the cocoon when ready to emerge. Usually, if it is a large