166 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



of the other, thus partially proving them to be distinct, while on 

 the other hand it was an easy matter to induce courtship between 

 the two sexes of the same type. 



The sexes are usually of quite different size, the female fre- 

 quently being three or four times the size of the male. The size 

 is determined partially by the amount of the food supply, there 

 being large and small males and females, although the majority 

 of the small individuals are male and of the larger individuals are 

 female. 



By means of a mica plant-cage some very interesting observa- 

 tions were made upon the method of oviposition by several of the 

 species. On October 6, 1908, a female Catolaccus incertus was 

 observed (R. A. C), crawling on an infested square and tapping it 

 here and there with her antennae. She finally inserted her ovi- 

 positor in the last spot investigated. This was done in the fol- 

 lowing manner. She raised herself to the full extent of her legs 

 and at the same time dropped the tip of the abdomen until it 

 touched the square, when the abdomen was practically perpen- 

 dicular to the square. After holding this position for a second, 

 during which time she made several jabs with the sheath, the ab- 

 domen was straightened out to the normal position while the ovi- 

 positor still remained inserted in the square. In forcing the ovi- 

 positor in, she moved the abdomen from side to side and the 

 venter was pushed down until the abdomen became triangular in 

 profile. The effort was not successful. 



On September 14, 1908, at Arkadelphia, Arkansas, the late Mr. 

 Clarence E. Hood observed a Catalaccus hunteri Crawford ovi- 

 positing in a dry square. The ovipositor was nearly halfway 

 into the square when first seen, and the triangular process at the 

 base of the ovipositor was plainly visible. The ovipositor was 

 perpendicular to the line of the body on the anterior ventral part 

 of the abdomen. The operation of forcing the ovipositor into 

 the square worked on the principle of an augur, with the oviposi- 

 tor as the bit and the body as the brace. By turning around and 

 around the ovipositor was forced into the square its entire length. 

 The parasite them remained practically quiet for perhaps two 

 minutes, a very slight movement of the abdomen being the only 

 action noticed. After the operation was finished the ovipositor 

 was very suddenly removed and snapped back into the sheath. 



On October 23, 1908, at Natchez, Miss., one of us (W. D. IV) 

 picked up a square from a plant and found a female Coto- 

 Inccus hunteri with its ovipositor inserted to the limit. The 

 abdominal triangular process was very large. The female did 

 considerable turning to right and left, sometimes going almost 

 around the ovipositor and then turning back the other WHY. 

 The operation complete, the abdominal process was drawn in, but 

 I IK- ovipositor still remained inserted in the square. She walked 



