112 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 



In order to soften the deep shadows on the embryo a circular card- 

 board reflector one-third of an inch in diameter is used. This is attached 

 to one end of a two inch piece of lead wire, the other end of which rises 

 from a heavy base of brass or lead one inch square. The lead wire has no 

 "spring." The reflector may thus be bent into any position and will 

 remain there when the wire is released. 



In some cases the image of the object on the glass screen has no 

 feature sufficiently distinct to permit of focussing. In such cases I have 

 found it possible to focus by placing on the surface of the embryo a 

 fine hair from a sable brush. The hair is clamped into the split end 

 of a lead wire supported on a base like that used fur the reflector. By 

 bending the wire the hair may be brought into position and one may 

 focus it. The wire affords a convenient means of removing the hair 

 before exposure. 



Zoological Laboratory, University of Michigan. 



THE HABITS OF ECCLEMEXSIA (HAMADRYAS) BASSETTELLA. 

 A TRUE PARASITE BELONGING TO THE LEPIDOPTERA. 



BY R. H. PETTIT, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Several of the orders of insects are well known to include species hav- 

 ing parasitic habits. Diptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera furnish 

 numbers of interesting forms. While there are several thousand par- 

 asites in the three orders named, the order -Lepidoptera contains but 

 very few instances to the knowledge of the writer. Thev are so little 

 seen that a short description of one of them may be of interest. 



During the spring of 1800. at St. Anthony Park, Minnesota, a number 

 of specimens of Kerfhes (a gall-like coccid or scale-insect) were collected 

 and placed in a tight tin pill-box for the purpose of rearing any parasites 

 that might be present. In the autumn of the same year this box was 

 opened and the contents examined. Two specimens of a small Tineid 

 moth were found lying dead on the bottom of the box. As this was en- 

 tirely new to the writer it was the cause of speculation as to how the 

 moths came there. The tin box was carefully examined and found to be 

 intact while it was certain that there were no occupants other than the 

 Coccids in the box when put away in the autumn. An examination of 

 these Coccids showed two of them to be punctured, each by a small hole 

 which was about the right size for the moth to make its exit. A closer 

 examination revealed the fact that one of the openings was provided with 

 a door of circular form which had been cut in the shell of the Coccid and 

 pushed out from the inside so that it remained fastend by a hinge on one 

 side. The inner side of this little door had many scales adhering to it 

 and these scales corresponded to the scales on the moth. 



To make the matter clearer one of the Coccid shells was opened and 

 a cocoon containing one of the empty pupal skins was found inside. The 

 brown silken cocoon occupied about one-third of the space inside the 

 shell to which it was attached, being curved, on account of its cramped 

 quarters, into a crescentic form. At the end of the cocoon was found' the 



