172 A Parasite on the Pine Weevil 



them. I collected a number of weevil larvae both attacked 

 and immune, and also a number of the attacking maggot. In 

 some cases the weevil larvae were sucked quite flat and in 

 a few days all those which had been attacked were in this con- 

 dition. Accordingly I supplied the parasitic larva with more grubs 

 and found that they readily fed on them, crawling two or three inches 

 to reach their new prey. 



These parasitic larvae measured somewhat over \ inch in length, 

 and were covered with very short reddish brown hairs. Unfortunately 

 I was unable through lack of proper instruments to make a close exami- 

 nation of them and I could not make out the mouth parts. Observation 

 showed, however, that they fed through the skin of their host and were 

 purely external parasites. In September the parasites ceased feeding, 

 and a few days after they moulted and became more definite in shape, 

 and I assumed then that they were Hymenopterous, A fortnight later, 

 on September 25th, they commenced spinning silky cocoons and in a 

 few hours they were completely hidden. All through the winter I 

 examined a few of these cocoons every week, but no alteration in the 

 external appearance of the enclosed larvae was visible until February 

 20th, when in two out of five cocoons I found pupae. Nine days later 

 the first imago emerged which I recognised as a Braconid of some sort. 

 At the date of writing, April 14th, flies are still emerging from the later 

 gathered cocoons. 



Dr MacDougall informs me that three years ago he obtained a 

 Braconid parasite on H//lobiifs, but in such a battered condition as to 

 be unrecognizable. So far as I have been able to ascertain I know of no 

 other British record of a Braconid on Hylohius. In Ratzeburg's Ichneu- 

 mon der ForstinseMen, however, there is a short account of the rearing 

 by Nordlinger of 40 2$ and i <^S from the larvae of H. abielis. I may be 

 permitted to quote Ratzeburg's account. " Nordlinger bred 40 ?? and 

 4 Sc^ from this species {Hylohius ahietis) each of whose larvae supports 

 about ten parasites. The cocoons of the latter are firm, oat-shaped 

 and papyraceous, woven among their hosts frass and dead bodies, and 

 often constructed at the end of the beetles' tunnels beneath fir bark." 

 This description agrees in every respect with my own observations and 

 accordingly I looked up Ratzeburg's description of the species which he 

 calls Bracon hylobii. It again agrees with the insects I have bred out, 

 and as I have been unable to identify my specimens with any of the 

 Bracons in the South Kensington collection, or with those described by 

 Marshall, I think it highly probable that the species I have reared are 



