Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
ichneumon .
Etymologies
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Examples
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The breeding place of certain of the ichneumons is the body of a caterpillar.
The Dawn of Reason or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals James Weir 1881
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ID theorist Jonathan Wells maintains that God didn’t design bad things such as ichneumons, just the good stuff.
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Greek and Roman writers recorded a bizarre Egyptian belief that ichneumons a type of mongoose killed crocodiles by running down their throats and gnawing their way out through the bowels.
Archive 2009-03-01 2009
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Greek and Roman writers recorded a bizarre Egyptian belief that ichneumons a type of mongoose killed crocodiles by running down their throats and gnawing their way out through the bowels.
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The brilliant amateur entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre, a contemporary of Darwin who never accepted evolution, described ichneumon behavior in exquisite detail.16 After Darwin, creationists continued to appeal to the amazing adaptations of parasitic ichneumons.
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Before Darwin, proponents of “natural theology” unabashedly used examples such as the ichneumons as proofs of supernatural Design.
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The great entomologist William Kirby appealed to ichneumons as exemplars of providentially provided instinct.
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After Darwin, creationists continued to point to the adaptive behavior of ichneumons.17 “The very intricacy of the scheme used by this wasp demands that some superior Intelligence devised the entire thing,” said one creationist.18 Another declared that such wasps not only refute evolution but tell us “something about a Creator who obviously had a lot of architectural expertise along with a pretty ingenious imagination.”
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Why apparent cruelty, such as evidenced by the ichneumons?
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Probably the Barotse and Bayeiye would not look upon it as a benefactor; they prefer to eat the eggs themselves, and be their own ichneumons.
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