RILEY NOTES ON NORTH AMERICAN MICROGASTERS. 3 II 



striate. They might be considered a variety, but hardly more. 

 I have found similar cocoons at Lawrence, Kansas, and bred the 

 same kind of flies from them, some of the specimens varying in 

 having red marks on the third and fourth joints of the abdomen. 

 The spinning of the cocoons in these honey-comb-like masses 

 seems also to be due to the place of spinning, as they were in each 

 case attached to tree-branches ; the larvag doubtless finding that 

 they could obtain a firm support only in a position transverse to 

 the branch and their host. 



From Sphinx 5-maculata I have obtained cocoons such as 

 those represented on Chcerocafupa in Fig. 4, and have received 

 from Mr. N. A. Bibikov, Orangeburg, S. C, the same kind of 

 cocoons from a Tomato-worm, and all have produced Apanteles 

 congregatus. But, strangely enough, the mass of cocoons repre- 

 sented at Fig. 5 may also have been made by parasites of Sphinx 

 o-maculata^ for I have received a similar mass obtained from that 

 species by Mr. E. T. Dale of Yellow Springs, O., and the flies 

 bred therefrom, as far as the few specimens before me will per- 

 mit of comparison, present no characters distinguishing them 

 from those bred from the other form of cocoons. With more ma- 

 terial I hope a closer comparison may be made. These masses 

 of cocoons must be spun under very different circumstances from 

 those under which the others are spun. 



Apanteles smerinthi, n. sp. — Length 2-2.^ mm. r??. Black; labrum, 

 mandibles and palpi testaceous ; the tips of the palpi whitish, antennae 

 dark testaceous ; legs light red, the anterior and intermediate coxae red- 

 dish, the posterior coxae black; wings hyaline, tegulse and nervures testa- 

 ceous, the stigma a little darker; lateral edges of the first and second 

 joints of the abdomen testaceous, a spot on each side of the third joint and 

 sometimes the apical margin of this joint red, the three basal joints red- 

 dish beneath. Mesothorax even, shining, the punctures being very fine 

 and not close together. Metathorax finely reticulate, with a slight me- 

 dian ridge. Abdomen polished, the basal joints with slight distinct punc- 

 tures, not rugose. Ovipositor concealed. The radial vein arises beyond 

 the middle of stigma and passes into the basal vein of the areolet quite 

 evenly. 



Described from many specimens bred from Smerinthus ocel- 

 latus, June 10, 1872. At once distinguished from congregatus by 

 the shining, delicately punctured mesothorax. In other respects, 

 excepting the finer sculpture of the base of the abdomen, it closely 

 resembles that species. The cocoons are spun in a mass, arranged 



