PARISTIC WASPS. m 



the caterpillar has no strength or life left, for there 

 remains a mere shell. 



Most of the caterpillars we had under observa- 

 tion never reached the pupal stage, just living long 

 enough to give food to the swarming parasites. We 

 observed the tiny wasp maggots making their way 

 out of the living, but exhausted caterpillar. They 

 cut their way out, between the segments of the 

 body, and began to spin little white cocoons on 

 the hairs of the victim. (Plate i6. Fig. i.) One 

 could see their heads moving backwards and for- 

 wards as they spun themselves within their snug 

 little resting places — their cocoons. This proces- 

 sion of emerging wasp maggots took place, and 

 their cocoons were spun, until the poor caterpillar 

 was covered with a layer of these little egglike 

 structures. The adult emerges by pushing oft 



the end of the egg as a cap (Plate i6, Fig. 4 a). 



These braconid parasites are often themselves 

 parasitised by chalcid wasps, and this double pro- 

 cess is termed hyper parasitism, the second parasite, 

 that is, the chalcid, being referred to as a hyper- 

 parasite. The braconid Opius attacks the Queens- 

 land fruit fly, and another, ApanteleSy attacks the 

 sugar cane moth. 



Mr. Froggatt, in "Friendly Insects," says of the 

 cocoons of braconids : "These cocoons often form 

 a regular mass containing many hundreds envel- 

 oped in a mass of curious cotton wool like sub- 

 stance ; however, the latter is often wanting. These 

 clusters of little cocoons can be noticed on the grass- 

 like stalks in fields where the cut worms have been 



