104 MORPHOLOGY, ETC , OP THE MICROPTERYGIDiE, i., 



on Sept. 2nd, and a second larger consignment of sixty-one 

 cocoons was dug up and posted on Sept. 18th. Owing to the 

 unfortunate and very severe outbreak of pneumonic influenza 

 in New Zealand, the vessels carrying these C' nsignments 

 were both quarantined at Auckland, where they underwent a 

 thorough fumigation. On arrival at Sydney, they were again 

 quarantined and fumigated. Finally the mails were released, 

 and again fumigated by the Postal Department. Thus the 

 length of the journey was increased by at least a fortnight; and 

 the insects, besides having to stand the great heat of a voyage 

 across the Equator, were subjected to three severe fumigations. 



I must confess that I did not expect that, under such condi- 

 tions, any of these insects would reach me alive. However, 

 they were little affected by their adventures, the larvae being 

 normal, the pupa? mostly alive but very weak. Out of the 

 seventy-six cocoons so far received, only four contained live 

 larva3, seventeen contained pupae, five were destroyed by fungus, 

 and all the rest, amounting to 66%, or about two-thirds of the 

 entire total, were parasitised by at least two species of Chalcid 

 wasps. Most of these latter were still in the larval stage; a few 

 were subpupae or pupae, but all were equally lively, and quite 

 unaffected by their long journey. 



The effect of the higher temperature on the larvae of Erw- 

 crania is then very obvious, in that they pupated long before 

 their normal time. Of the seventeen pupae examined, three 

 were dead and somewhat shrivelled, two were only recently 

 turned, one was apparently about half-developed towards the 

 imaginal stage, and no less tlian eleven were very fully developed, 

 with their wing-sheaths jet black and shiny, and all the parts of 

 the imago fully formed. 



It will thus be seen that, out of seventy-six specimens sent, 

 only two were in a state suitable for my purpose, while a third 

 could be used with less certainty. All three of these were care- 

 fully dissected, and the results here given are based on the study 

 of all three, which agreed with one another in every particular. 



Both the opening of the cocoon and the dissection of the pupa 

 are surprisingly simple matters, considering their small size. 



