THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 211 



Oviposition. 



Ovipositioii takes place soon after birtli and may take place even 

 tliongh tlie females are not first fertilized. They have not been found 

 ovipositing in either first stage or last stage mealy bugs. Their ovipo- 

 sition is not interrupted even though the mealy bug larva protests by 

 squirming around during the operation of oviposition. The piercing 

 of the mealy bug by the ovipositor does not always denote the laying 

 of an egg, as in some cases no egg was found in a mealy bug that 

 had been pierced by a parasite. 



Egg. 

 The egg stage lasts from three to six days. As many as three eggs 

 have been found in a single mealy bug larva. It is questionable, 

 hDwever, if more than one parasite ever matures in a single mealy 

 bug larva. It is to be expected that the presence of three eggs in one 

 larva sets up superparasitisn: that is disastrous to the increase in the 

 parasites. Before being laid the eggs are shaped somewhat like an 

 Indian club. In tlie process of laying the small end apparently serves 

 to take up the fluid portion forced out of the larger end during the 

 passage of the larger end through the narrow oviduct. The nearest 

 approach to this neck of the unlaid egg in the laid egg is a tubular 

 process more than one third the length of the egg and at one end 

 of the egg and observed in . an egg one day old. The usual type of 

 laid egg is a little more than twice as long as its greatest width and 

 lias a rudimentary tube at one end, the tube l)eing reduced to a spine 

 shaped protuberance less than one eighth the length of the egg. The 

 eggs are almost colorless. 



Larva. 



The larval stage lasts from 8 to 25 days. The larvae are almost 

 colorless, eruciform and lacking in any distinctive characteristics. The 

 mandibles are not prominent. Nothing resembling a moult skin has 

 ])een found, though it is probable that the larva moults one or more 

 times before pupating. As the larva develops there is an apparent 

 attenuation of the tail end so that prior to pupating what may serve 

 as a breathing tube is demonstrable at the tail end of the larva. All 

 through the larval stage of this parasite the mealy bug continues to have 

 power of locomotion. As the larva pupates the mealy bug becomes 

 obviously distended by the forming pupa. 



Pupa. 



The pupal stage lasts from 10 to 18 days. Once the pupa is com- 

 pleted the mealy bug dies, its skin forming an almost cylindrical shell 

 for the pupa. This shell formed by the host remains in this and other 

 internal parasites may be called the tunica to distinguish this kind of 

 pupal protection from other kinds of pupal shells. Toward the end 

 of the pupal period the tunica becomes amber color with a whitish bloom 

 and at the end of the pupal stage the hatching adults cut through the 

 head end of the tunica, cutting nearly one fourth of the tunica away 

 from the rest of the tunica in the course of their hatching. 



