498 Phylum Arthropoda 



successful attempts to induce the parasites to oviposit on free-moving 

 larvae and then adopted the scheme of confining the host larvae in small 

 glass cells made in the following manner: A glass tube just large enough 

 to hold a full grown Angoumois larva was cut into sections about 1 cm. 

 long. One end of the tube was touched on a smear of glue and then 

 pressed against a piece of tissue paper. After drying, the edges of the 

 paper were trimmed off, leaving a circular cap over the end of the tube. 

 Host larvae were pushed into the other end of the tube head first, and 

 held there by a small cotton plug. Several such cells were placed in 

 holes in a card so that they would stand with the paper cap uppermost, 

 and the whole card was then pushed under a large inverted petri dish 

 used for confining the adult parasites. A cotton wad saturated with 

 sugar water was kept under each dish. The female Habrocytus would 

 climb to the top of such a cell and oviposit through the tissue paper cap 

 the same as through the seed coat of an infested grain. If the cell was 

 placed close to the side of a glass dish the whole process of oviposition 

 could be watched with a binocular microscope. The number of eggs in 

 each cell might be counted easily through the glass and further observa- 

 tion made on the development of the parasite without disturbing it. 



The life cycle of Habrocytus cerealellae was run at two constant 

 temperatures, 25 C. and 30 C. The time required for a complete 

 life cycle of the Angoumois moth at a favorable temperature is a little 

 over a month. Considering the short life cycle of Habrocytus (10 to 

 15 days), the number of eggs laid and the fact that a large proportion 

 of the offspring are females, the reproductive capacity of the parasite 

 must be close to three times as great as that of the host. 



Large stock cultures of Habrocytus were maintained in Angoumois 

 infested corn. The ear corn was kept in a large garbage can to protect 

 it from mice. Both the Angoumois moth and its parasite continued to 

 breed in the closed can and seemed to maintain a fairly constant balance. 



References 

 Family Calliceratidae 



For the culture of Calliceras (Ceraphron) see p. 266. 

 Family Cynipidae 



For the rearing of gall insects see p. 517. 

 Family Chalcididae 



For the rearing of members of this family see p. 517. 

 Family Pteromalidae 



For the culture of Asaphes americana see p. 500. 



For the culture of Cyrtogaster dinentes see p. 497. 



Bibliography 

 Fulton, B. B. 1933. Notes on Habrocytus cerealellae, parasite of the Angoumois 



grain moth. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 26:536. 

 Noble, N. S. 1932. Studies of Habrocytus cerealellae (Ashmead), a pteromalid 



parasite of the Angoumois grain moth. Univ. Calif. Publ. Ent. 5:311. 



