32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.63. 



basal half; in color the species is testaceous, more or less varied with 

 black or brown; the first tergite almost invariably uniformly brown 

 or black. 



Distribution. — Evidently this is the most common and most widely 

 distributed of all our species. Without doubt it occurs abundantly 

 in every State of this country, over much of Canada, and in all 

 probability in Mexico. 



Hosts. — Lycophotia margaritosa Haworth; L. saucia Hiibner; 

 Laphygma frugiperda Smith and Abbot; Chorizagrotis agrestis Grote; 

 Ghorizagrotis, species; Scotogramma trifolii Rottemburg; Paro.grotis 

 perexcellens Grote; Feltia suhgothica Haworth; F. annexa Treitschke; 

 F. gladiaria Morrison; Porosagrotis orthogonia Morrison; Eurymus 

 eurytheme Boisduval; Agrotis ypsilon Rottemburg; "cutworms." 

 Material from these hosts, most of it in the United States National 

 Museum, has been examined. The parasite has also been recorded 

 from Helhda undalis Fabricius " and Feltia malefida Guenee.^^ An 

 important parasite of the cutworm type of noctuid larva. The 

 species is gregarious, from 8 or 10 to 30 individuals issuing from a 

 single caterpillar. Published host records which are probably 

 incorrect are: Oanarsia hammondi Riley ^^ and Omphalocera cariosa 

 Lederer.^'' 



The foregoing discussion and the characters assigned the species 

 in the key are based on an examination of several hundred specimens 

 from many points in Texas, Delaware, Colorado, California, New 

 Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, 

 South Dakota, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, 

 Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 

 Maryland, District of Columbia, New York, Vermont, Maine, New 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Alberta, British 

 Columbia. This vast amount of material is in the collections of the 

 United States National Museum; the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Sciences; Cornell University; Doctor Brues, at Harvard University; 

 Mr. Nathan Banks, of the Cambridge Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology; the Boston Society of Natural Plistory; and the gypsy- 

 moth parasite laboratory. 



24. METEORUS LAPHYGMAE Viereck. 



Meleorus laphygiiiae Viereck, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 44, 1913. p. 5C0. 



Type. — In the United States National Museum. 



Very similar to Tiyphatitriae and versicolor; but a little care in the 

 use of the characters given in the key will separate them; the pro- 

 pleura are entirely rugulose, except along the upper margin; parap- 



13 Chittenden, BuU. 2,3, U. S. Dcpt. Agr., Bur. Ent., 1900, p. 60. 

 H Sanderson, Bull. 57, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent., 1906, p. 10. 



15 Ashmead, Proc. Ent. Sop. Wash., vol. 4, 1897, p. 130. 



16 Riley and Howard, Insect Life, vol. 3, 1890, p. 57. 



