CONTROL OF WATTLE BAGa\'OR-M. 



293 



incliule bags removed from the trees before the contents were 

 devoured, all the above bag-s were collected in well-grown 

 plantations in which there was little or no undergrowth. 

 Fuller records instances where young plantations have been 

 almost entii-ely freed from bagworms by the rats alone. It 

 would seem that in young plantations overgrown with weeds 

 the rats find plenty of shelter and are abundant, but that in 

 mature plantations, where there is very little cover for them, 

 they do little good in keeping down the bagworms. 



Parasitic Insects. 



According to Ilardenberg there are eight different species 

 of insects parasitic on the bagworm, two ichneumons, one 

 chalcid, and five tachinids, but he had none of these deter- 

 mined, nor were their habits studied in detail. I have only 

 come across two of these parasites, an ichneumon, Fhilopsyche 

 abdominalls, Morley,* and a tachinid, Carcelia evolans, 

 Wied.* The tachinid is in its turn preyed upon by a minute 

 chalcid, which has, so far, not been determined. 



Fig- 1. — riiilopsychc ahdomhiaUs, Morley. Female. 



Philopsyche is a genus, the members of which seem to 

 restrict their attention to the larvae of psychid moths. The 

 only host so far recorded for P. ahdominaJis is the wattle 

 bagworm. The adults vary considerably in size, but the males 

 are generally about 12 mm. in length, and the females (includ- 

 ing the ovipositor) about 20 mm. The head, thorax and hind 

 legs are black, the abdomen red, and the forelegs yellowish 

 white (Fig. 1), 



Determined by Dr. Peringuey. 



