184 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



This species was described by Cresson in 1879 as parasitic 

 upon the cotton aphis, the wheat aphis, and the orange aphis. 

 In 1880 Dr. Ashmead described a species of aphid infesting 

 the orange, giving it the name Siphonophora citrifolii, and at 

 the same time described its aphidiine parasite as Aphidius 

 citraphis. In 1888 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.) he referred Cres- 

 sou's Trioxys testaceipes and his own A. citraphis to the genus 

 Lysiphlebus, where they belong, but in doing so stated that 

 Cresson had "confused three different species having a su- 

 perficial resemblance reared from the cotton aphis, wheat 

 aphis, and orange aphis, 1 ' and that he (Ashmead) retained 

 the name citraphis, for the species reared from the orange 

 aphis, Cresson 's name testaceipes for the one reared from the 

 cotton aphis, and gave the name tntici to the parasite of the 

 wheat aphis. In the same article he described, among others, 

 five additional species of Lysiphlebus, viz, L. abutilaphidis, 

 L. eragrostap/iidis, L. piceiventris, L. coquilleUii, and L. 

 b'accarhaphidis . Mr. Coquillett, who had furnished most of 

 the material from which these five species were described in 

 Insect Life (vol. in, p. 313) proved that they were all the same 

 species, and further, that they were probably synonmous 

 with Lysiphlebus citraphis Ashm., and that the Aphidana 

 basilaris of Provancher was also a synonym of that species. 

 As the matter then stood, L. testaceipes Cress., reared from 

 the cotton aphis (Aphis gossypit}, and L. citraphis Ashm., 

 reared from the orange aphis (Siphonophora citrifolii}, were 

 recognized as good species. But in 1895 (Insect Life, vii, p. 

 307) Mr. Pergande declared Siphon ophora citrifolii a synonym 

 of Aphis gossypii, thus making the two species of Lysiphlebus 

 parasitic upon the same plant-louse. 



The writer in 1908 found a colony of aphids infesting Althea 

 in a greenhouse at College Park and sent some of them to 

 Mr. Pergande, who pronounced them Aphis gossypii. From 

 this lot of aphids were reared a number of specimens of 

 Lysiphlebus. Among these specimens appeared considerable 

 variation, not only in colorational detail, but in the number of 

 antennal joints and appearance of the metathorax. Some 

 specimens answered exactly the description of L. testaceipes 

 Cress., while others answered fully as well Ashmead 's descrip- 

 tion of L. citraphis. At the same time practically all the char- 

 acters represented by the five species suppressed by Coquillett 

 were represented by individual specimens. One specimen was 

 found which runs directly in Ashmead's table of species to L. 

 minutus, which he included in the table but did not further 

 characterize. 



