ART. 2. ICHNEUMON-FLY GENUS METEORUS MUESEBECK. 31 



from known parents, on Laphygma frugiperda Smith and Abbot and 

 Cirphis unipuncta Haworth, are particularly valuable in demon- 

 strating the wide variation in color in the species, even between 

 parents and progeny, and among the progeny themselves. In all 

 cases the progeny are apparently the result of parthenogenetic 

 reproduction. The number of antennal segments in this lot of speci- 

 mens varies from 32 to 36, a large majority of the individuals having 

 33 or 34 segments. Other material in the National Collection follows: 

 One specimen reared from Prodenia eridania Cramer, at Macclenny, 

 Florida, and two from the same host, at Bartow, Florida (B. L. Boy- 

 den) ; one from Eurymus eurytlieme Boisduval at Nashville, Tennes- 

 see (C. C. Hill) ; one from Plathypena scahra Fabricius, at Charleston, 

 Missouri (E. H. Gibson) ; one from Evergestis straminalis Hiibner, 

 Arlington, Virginia; one from Phlyctaenia ferrugalis Hiibner, on 

 alfalfa, at Clarksdale, Mississippi (W. R. McConnell); one from 

 Autographa, '^ possibly verruca Fabricius," Clarksdale, Mississippi 

 (McConnell); and specimens, without host records, from Gainesville, 

 Florida; Washington, District of Columbia; Nashville, Illinois; 

 Louisiana; and Canada. The Cornell collection has one specimen 

 from Ridgewood, New Jersey (M. D. Leonard) ; and the gypsy-moth 

 parasite laboratory has two specimens, one from Bangor, Maine 

 (A. C. Ward) ; and one reared from Alsophila pometaria Harris, 

 collected at Hampton, New Hampshire. The species is evidently 

 more common over the southern part of the United States, east of the 

 Mississippi, than farther north. It has apparently a wide range of 

 hosts, but shows a distinct preference for noctuid larvae, particularly 

 cutworms. 



23. METEORUS VULGARIS (Cresson). 



Perilitus vulgaris Cresson, Canad. Entom., vol. 4, 1872, p. 88. 



Meteorus vulgaris Cresson, Cresson, Synops. Hymen., N. Amer., 1887, p. 229. 



Meteorus coquillefti Ashmead, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1888, p. 642. 



Meteorus viellinervis Viereck, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 29, 1903, p. 95. 



Meteorus viamcstrae Viereck, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 46, 1913, p. 364. 



Type. — The types of vulgaris and mellinervis are in the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Sciences; those of coquilletti and mamestrae are in the 

 United States National Museum. 



Easily separated from related species by the characters given in the 

 key. The female antennae normally have 26 to 30 segments, those of 

 the male 29 to 32 ; the ventral margins of the first tergite touch for a 

 short distance, as shown in figure 2 /. The petiole is without dorsal 

 fossae and is smooth and polished; the postpetiole is usually finely 

 striate, smooth and polished between the striae; in some specimens 

 the striae are nearly effaced, the whole first tergite being practically 

 smooth ; the ovipositor sheaths are a little more than half the length 

 of the abdomen;" the ovipositor is very strongly thickened on the 



