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Pomona College Journal of Entomology 



The female is rather deliberate in her actions and may remain in a very small 

 area for an hour or so, all the time busy examining the host. In doing this she 

 holds her antennae, as is shown in the lateral view in Figure 167. and does all of 

 the feeling with the tips of her antennse. These she moves very rapdily and when 

 a suitable mealy bug has been found (those selected are about half-grown) she 

 turns around and punctures it with the ovipositor and deposits her egg. From 

 observations it is very probable that she deposits but one egg in an individual 

 mealy bug. When touched or disturbed she jumps and may even fly away. She 

 rests with the body close to the supporting fruit or leaf with the legs spread out at 

 the sides and the antennae flattened out in front, not unlike two front legs. 



As stated above it was possible to obtain a large number of these internal 

 parasites from small breeding cages filled with adult mealy bugs and their egg 

 masses, but the good they do is very diflicult to estimate. In breeding cages great 

 numbers were kept confined for a year, but the number of mealy bugs increased 

 enormously while the parasites almost entirely disappeared. In mounting hundreds 

 of adult mealy bugs, I have been unable to procure one that contained the larval 

 form of the parasites, but the empty cases, from which hare issued the ])arasites are 

 plentiful on the trees in the orchards. 



Figure 168. Chrysoplatycerus splendens 



