146 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



with a series of the distorted and cocoon-filled larvae of their 

 hosts, showing that these insects had been bred from a large 

 series of lepidopterous larvae of the tineine and tortricine series, 

 together with certain noctuids and pyralids. He also exhib 

 ited one interesting specimen of a noctuid pupa that of 

 Papaipema nitela which indicated that the larva, parasitized 

 by a multitude of Copidosoma larvse, had succeeded in pupat 

 ing before its destruction, the parasites having apparently been 

 unable to issue by perforating the tough integument but hav 

 ing come out through an accidental break in the skin. 



In discussing the possibilities of further discoveries, and as 

 indicating the most promising directions toward which inves 

 tigations may be made, he stated that it is altogether likely 

 that all species of the genera Copidosoma, Litomastix, and 

 Ageniapsis will be found to have this method of development. 

 Copidosoma, as restricted, is well-known to be parasitic in 

 Europe and North America upon the larvae of Microlepidop- 

 tera ; Litomastix is known to be parasitic upon the larvae of 

 Microlepidoptera, certain noctuid and geometrid larvae, and 

 also upon cossids. Litomastix truncatellus, for example, is 

 known to be parasitic in the large wood-boring larva of Zeu- 

 zera cesculi. What an extraordinary opportunity for polyem- 

 bryony exists here, when we consider the immense numbers 

 of parasites which a full-grown larva of Zeuzera could harbor ! 

 The genus Bothriothorax, the species of which infest large 

 dipterous larvae and puparia particularly the Syrphidae and 

 the Anthomyiidae is a probable form. Homalotylus, which 

 produces the same inflated aspect with the larvae of certain coc- 

 cinellids and chrysomelids, is another one; Dinocarsis, whose 

 only known host is Thyridopteryx, is still another; while all 

 of the lepidopterous parasites belonging to the old genus En- 

 cyrtus as listed by Dalla Torre are hopeful subjects for future 

 investigation. Those forms infesting the smaller Coccidae and 

 especially the Diaspinae, may be shown to have the normal 

 development, but genera like Rhopus, certain species of Micro- 

 terys, Trichomasthus, Aphycus, Blastothrix, and Leptomastix, 

 which infest the larger scale insects and issue in considerable 

 numbers from a single individual, should be investigated, as 

 well as those parasites of the larger Coccidae belonging to the 

 genus Encyrtus as listed by Dalla Torre. 



In fact, the polyembryonic development is strongly to be 

 suspected in all cases where a minute hymenopterous parasite 

 infests in large numbers a host of large size, as occurs in many 

 groups of Chalcididae and Proctotrypidae as well as in some 

 Braconidae. Even in the familiar instance of Pteromalus 

 puparum, the common parasite of Pontia rapce, and others of 



