322 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



presence of such a larva by aid of her autennse — which she 

 deftly applies to different ]>arts of the fruit, and which doubt- 

 less possess some occult aii'I delicate sense of perception which, 

 with our comparative dull senses, we are unable to compre- 

 hend — then she pierces the fruit, and, with unerring precision, 

 deposits a single egg in her victim, by means of her ovipositor. 



Now there is, as I shall show in the description, a variety 

 (fusca) of this parasite with the ovipositor nearly one-fifth of 

 an inch long, but in the normal form the ovipositor is only 

 twelve-hundredth s of an inch long, and the Curculio larvae 

 must therefore be reached soon after it hatches, or while yet 

 very young. Consequently, we find that the earliest Curculio 

 larvae, or those which hatch while the fruit is yet small, are 

 the most subject to be parasitised, and while from larva3 

 obtained early in the season I bred more parasites than Curcu- 

 lios, this order of things was reversed a little later in the year. 

 Some persons will no doubt wonder how such a large fly can 

 be developed from a Curculio larva? which is stung while so 

 young ; but we do not know how long the parasitic egg 

 remains unhatched, and it must be remembered that it is a 

 rule, wisely ordained and long known to exist in insect life, 

 that the parasitic larvas does not at first kill outright, but sub- 

 sists, without retarding growth, upon the fatty portions of its 

 victim, until its own growth is attained. Thus the first worm 

 derives its nourishment from the juicy fruit, and grows on, 

 regardless of the parasite which is consuming its adipose sub- 

 stance, until the latter is suflSciently developed, and the 

 appointed time arrives for it to destroy its prey by attacking 

 those parts more vital. 



This parasite which I will now proceed to describe belongs 

 to the second sub-family {Braconides) of the Ichneumon-flies 

 {IcTineumondice), and the venation of its wings, and 3-jointed 

 abdomen, place it in the genus Sigalplms. Westwood (Synop- 

 sis, p. 63) gives three cubital panes or areolets in the front 

 wing as characteristic of the genus ; but Brulle (p. 510) and. 



