HYMENOPTERA PETIOLATA. 



759 



preceding family ; ab- 

 domen pointed behind 

 and often bent down- 

 wards ; ovipositor re- 

 tractile but not coiled ; 

 larva parasitic. A large 

 and variable, cosmo- 

 politan family of 

 small or minute in- 

 sects difficult to de- 

 fine. The ovipositor 

 is in all cases tubular. 

 The trochanter in some 

 cases remains un- 

 divided. Such larvae 

 as are known live in 

 the bodies or in the 

 eggs of other insects 

 or of spiders , and there 

 they usually pupate. 



FIG. 189.Alaptus excisus, Westwood. Britain. (Probable 

 size about I millim.) From Sharp. 



Some, e.g. the members of the sub-family 



Mymarinae, are aquatic and are said to lay their eggs in those of Dragon- 



23 



Vff- 



FIG. 490. Stages in the development of Platygaitir (alter Ganin from Lubbock). 23, 24, 25, 

 so-called Cj/cfo?>s-like larvae of three species of Plutygaster ; 26 second larval stage ; 27 

 third larval stage, a antenna ; ag salivary duct ; an anus ; bsm ventral ectodermal thick- 

 ening ; ed intestine ; ew rectum ; / furcal appendage ; fk fat-body ; ga genital organs ; 

 gh proctodaeum ; gsae supra-oesophageal ganglion ; */ hook-like feet ; Ifg lateral limbs ; 

 Im, sp salivary glands ; md mandibles ; mo mouth ; msl stomach ; sit, slkf oesophagus ; 

 tr tracheae ; ul lower lip. 



