OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIX, 1917 SI! 



tere-d i)uiift arcs, pronotuin transversely slriate; thorax laterally sha- 

 greened, mesopleuriim above pleural suture polished; pronodeum sha- 

 greened, subpolished medially; coxae obscurely shagreened; abdomen 

 polished, faintly reticulate laterally; ovipositor slightly longer than 

 abdomen. 



Metallic green with bronzy reflections, this color extending to the 

 coxae and femora; hind tibiae dark brown, legs otherwise yellow; scape 

 yellow, antennae otherwise blackish with purplish bronze luster. 



Male.- Length 2.3 mm. In sculpture and color very similar to female. 



Type locality. Pickens, W. Va. 



Other locality. North East, Pa. 



Type.GaA,. No. 20968 U. S. N. M. 



Described from five females and one male reared by the author 

 May 31 to June 16, 1916, under Quaintance No. 11013, from 

 seeds of Amelanchier canadensis in company with Megastigmus 

 amelanchieris Gush. The material collected at the type locality 

 by Mr. Fred E. Brooks, and one female captured by the author 

 on the same plant at North East, Pa. ; June 21, 1915, and later 

 observed to attempt oviposition in an An/< lanchicr berry. 



The specimens show very little variation in size or sculpture. 

 Paratypes d and e have distinct purplish reflections at the base 

 of the abdomen. 



HABITS OF MEGASTIGMUS. 



At the time when emergence of Megastigmus was in progress 

 the Amelanchier berries were from three-sixteenths to one-fourth 

 inch in diameter, and the seed contents semifluid to gelatinous. 



Oviposition takes place in late May and early June at the 

 latitude of North East. In oviposition the female inserts her 

 ovipositor through the side of the berry. The egg has not been 

 found, but, as is the case in all seed-chalcids, the eggs of which 

 are known, it is undoubtedly deposited within the tissue of tin- 

 seed.. The larva consumes the entire seed contents and attains 

 full growth by shortly after the first of July. By this time the 

 fruit is ripening and tailing to the ground, and the seed coat has 

 become hardened and brown. Infested seeds are less plump 

 and more irregular in form than sound seeds and will float on 

 water, while sound seeds will sink. Within the seed the larva 

 contracts and becomes less strongly curved and remains in this 

 condition until the following spring, when it pupates and a few 

 days later emerges as the adult insect. Thus in the development 

 of a single generation very nearly the entire year is consumed. 



Thus far the only known host of this species is Ann lanchicr 

 canadensis and the only localities I-'n-nrh ('reek and Pickens, \V. 

 Va., and North Mast, Pa. Through the kindness of Mr. Lewis 



