290 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Hence the exudate, or the plant, strictly speaking, cannot be 

 called u insecticidal" any more properly than " insectivorous." 

 The peculiar attractiveness above noted doubtless serves the plant 

 some special purpose, and until the real nature of this is deter 

 mined the designation given in the heading must of course be 

 understood as provisional. 



Mr. Howard then presented a paper entitled 



THE HYMENOPTEROUS PARASITES OF SPIDERS. 



BY L. O. HOWARD. 



I have for some time been interested in the subject indicated by 

 the title of this paper and have published several short notes with 

 descriptions of species in the first three volumes of Insect Life. 

 Material has accumulated on my hands, however, to such an extent 

 that I have thought it well to bring it all together into convenient 

 and accessible shape. The biological facts here given have been 

 transmitted to Rev. H. C. McCook for publication in the third 

 volume of his large work upon " Spiders and Their Spinning 

 Work." A systematic statement, however, is given below with 

 descriptions of all new species and all of the facts so far connected 

 with their life histories except where previously published. In 

 the latter case references are given. I have followed this state 

 ment with a tabular list of the European hymenopterous parasites 

 of spiders so far as I have been able to find them recorded. This 

 list is taken from a manuscript catalogue of the host relations of 

 parasitic Hymenoptera upon which I have been engaged for some 

 time. It should be stated concerning this list that the bibliographi 

 cal references in the third column do not give in many cases the 

 name of the original observer or even the reference to the first pub 

 lication, as I have, in order to save time, catalogued mainly pub 

 lished lists of host relations, thus taking advantage of the com 

 pilation work done by other workers. As a result Black wall's 

 rearings, for instance, while not credited in the reference column 

 to that author, may appear under Bridgman or Fitch or some 

 other author, as the case may be. I have confined myself to 

 the consideration of the hymenopterous parasites, although several 

 Diptera are known to infest spiders and their cocoons ; thus cer 

 tain flies of the Muscid genus Leucopis are said by Schiner to 

 live in the nests of spiders, while Menge states that the larva of 

 Oncodes inhabits the sac of Clubiona and devours the spider. 

 Moreover, the curious hypermetamorphoses of Mantispa have 

 been proved by Brauer to take place in the egg sacs of spiders of 

 the genus Lycosa. 



