320 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [December, 



Dr. McCook, in discussing my observations on the protective 

 coloration shown by the cocoons of Epeira argentata, remarks 

 that "the protective resemblance did not protect, as appears 

 from the numerous broods of invading ichneumons." This is 

 rather a curious interpretation to make of this observation. It 

 is true that the protective coloring did not protect from the ich- 

 neumons, and it seems difficult to see by what, if any method, it 

 could be protected from them, but the coloring does protect it 

 from the depredations of birds, which, in the process of building 

 their nests, destroy large numbers of the cocoons of other species. 



Gaurax araneae Coq. n. sp. Head and all its parts yellow, only the 

 eyes, antennal arista and an ocellar dot, black. Thorax pale yellow, 

 marked with four orange-yellow dorsal vittae, of which the two median 

 are sometimes brown; pleura yellow, marked with an oval black spot 

 near the center and sometimes with a black dot back of the humeri; scu- 

 tellum yellow, marked with a median brown vitta ; metanotum in the 

 middle brown. Abdomen black, marked with a large V-shaped yellow 

 spot at the base. Legs, including the coxae and tarsi, wholly yellow. 

 Wings hyaline. Length 3 mm. 



Southern California. Five specimens, bred by Dr. A. David- 

 son from egg sacs of Epeira angidata and Lathrodectus mactans 

 (probably a scavenger. A related species, Gaiirax anthora, was 

 bred by Osten Sacken from deserted cocoons of the moth, Samia 

 cecropia}. Coquillett. 



Hemiteles davidsonii Ashm. n. sp. $. Length 4.5-5 mm. Opaque 

 black, evenly microscopically shagreened; joints 1-4 or 5 of antennae, 

 mandibles, prothorax and legs ferruginous, the hind tibiae obfuscated; 

 tegula? and base of stigma white; wings hyaline, with two fuscous bands; 

 palpi subfuscous. Head transverse, the clypeus not separated from the 

 face ; antennae 33-jointed, two-thirds the length of body ; mesonotum 

 without distinct furrows, the furrows being only slightly indicated ante- 

 riorly, entirely wanting on disc and posteriorly ; metanotum completely 

 areolated, the spiracles small, rounded; ovipositor not longer than the 

 basal joint of hind tarsi. 



Hab. Bear Valley, California. Described from a single 9 

 specimen bred by Dr. A. Davidson from an egg-sac of an un- 

 known spider. 



The species evidently belongs to Forster's subgenus Ilapinastes. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS for November was mailed October 31, 1896. 



