Dryinidae 5*5 



At this stage nymphs should be transferred to freshly cut branches 

 of Robinia in laboratory cages. These branches are kept in water 

 to keep them fresh. The nymph, when the parasites are ready to 

 emerge (August and early September), crawls out on a small branch 

 and fixes its tarsi tightly. One then sees rows of elevations, four or 

 five to a segment, appear across the abdominal sternal plates. Place a 

 flower pot with soft earth beneath the Thelia nymph. The Aphelopus 

 eruciform larvae emerge head first from holes in the abdomen of the 

 host and drop into the flower pot. They burrow into the soil and spin 

 little, peanut-shaped cocoons in which they overwinter. 



Some of the pots were kept outside over the winter and others were 

 kept in the laboratory and sprinkled occasionally. Those in the labora- 

 tory matured much more quickly than those kept outside. Aphelopus 

 theliae was first described from specimens reared in this way. 



Bibliography 



Ftjnkhouser, W. D. 1915. Life history of Thelia bhnaculata Fab. (Membracidae) . 



Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 8:140. 

 Gahan, A. B. 1 91 8. An interesting new hymenopterous parasite. Canad. Ent. 



50:151. 



Kornhauser, S. I. 1919. The sexual characteristics of the membracid, Theha 



bhnaculata (Fabr.). /. Morph. 32:531- 



ANTEONINE PARASITES OF LEAFHOPPERS* 



THE Anteoninae confine their attacks to the Fulgoridae, Cicadelli- 

 dae, and Membracidae. Adults of both sexes feed readily on water 

 sweetened with sugar. 



Leafhoppers captured in the field were kept alive and the parasitized 

 ones isolated in shell vials provided with a layer of damp soil and a 

 cotton plug. Fresh leaves were added every day until the host had been 

 killed by the parasite. The cocoons are spun either beneath the soil or 

 above it on leaves or other objects. 



By this method life histories were obtained for Gonatopus erythrodes, 

 G. contortulus, Haplogonatopus americanus, Chelogynus osborni, Phor- 

 bas mirabilis, and Aphelopus dikraneuri. 



M. E. D. 



♦Abstracted from an article in the Ohio J. of Sci. 18:177, 1918. by F. A. Fexton 

 Oklahoma A. and M. College. 



