ICHNEUMON-FLIES, PART 2: EPHIALTINAE 13 



(Panguitch) ; Virginia (East Falls Church and Vienna) ; and Wis- 

 consin (Gordan, Minong, and Wood Co.). 



This is a very common parasite of Lepidoptera (and sometimes of 

 Pissodes) boring in the growing tips or cones of conifers. In the 

 Austroriparian fauna it has been reared as a parasite of Laspeyresia 

 caryana, feeding in the shucks of pecan. Specimens from the South- 

 east are somewhat more slender and with narrower temples than nor- 

 mal for the species, and the association with hosts in Carya rather than 

 Conif erae suggests that they might be a different species or subspecies. 

 We have not, however, found a way to distinguish them as a discrete 

 taxon. 



Rearing records are as follows : 1 from Choristoneura fumiferana, 

 2 from Barbara colfaxiana taxifoliella, 4 from B. colfaxiana siskiyouana, 

 1 from Dioryctria amatella, 1 from D. auranticella, 2 from D. zim- 

 mermani, 1 from Laspeyresia caryana, 1 from L. cupressana? , 3 from 

 L. toreuta, 4 from L. youngana, 1 from Laspeyresia sp., 3 from Petrova 

 albicapitana, 1 from P. comstockiana, 2 from Petrova sp., 1 from Pis- 

 sodes strobi, 2 from material containing Pissodes strobi, 1 from material 

 containing Pissodes sp., 1 from Razoumotskya cryptopoda, 50 from 

 Rhyacionia buoliana, 3 from R. frustrana, 1 from R. rigidana, 3 from 

 Rhyacionia sp., 1 from "tortricid in black knot," 1 from cones of 

 Abies amabilis, 7 from A. concolor, 1 from cones of A. concolor, 2 from 

 A. grandis, 1 from cones of Abies sp., 5 from cones of Picea glauca 

 albertinana, 3 from Picea sitchensis, 2 from cones of Picea sp., 1 from 

 Pinus contorta, 2 from P. edulis, 1 from P. jeffreyi, 2 from P. mur- 

 rayana, 3 from P. ponderosa, 1 from cones of P. ponderosa, 1 from P. 

 scopulorum, 2 from P. strobus, 1 from cones of P. strobus, 1 from P. 

 sylvestris, 1 from P. virginiana, 1 from cones of Pinus sp., 2 from 

 Pseudotsuga taxifolia, and 1 from Tsuga heterophylla. Out of the 326 

 specimens we have seen, all but about 21 specimens were certainly or 

 probably reared, which indicates the importance of the species in the 

 biological control of economic pests. 



The reared specimens emerged throughout the growing season and 

 some during the cold months, doubtless because they were in a. 

 laboratory climate. The few specimens collected as adults indicate 

 that the species is on the wing from mid-spring to mid-fall. We 

 ourselves have taken it in mid-fall, flying about Pinus virginiana, in 

 abandoned overgrown fields. 



This species is transcontinental, ranging from the Canadian to the 

 Lower Austral zone. It is a common parasite of lepidopterous hosts 

 (and sometimes of Pissodes) in the growing points or cones of coniferous 

 trees. In the southeastern States it attacks also Laspeyresia caryana 

 in the shucks of Carya nuts. 



