Ernestia. 499 



Amager, Lyngby Mose, Hillerød, Gilleleje, Rørvig; in Jutland at 

 Sønderborg, Sottrup, Skeide, Kliplev, in Nørholm Skov at Varde, 

 Greisdal and Laven; the dates are ^^Z, — ^1^. It occurs frequently on 

 umbellifers, especially on Pastinaca. It is known bred from Vanessa io, 

 Chaerocampa elpenor, Deilephila galii, Lophopteryx camelina, Spilo- 

 soma menthastri and lubricipeda, Panolis griseovariegata, and from 

 Mamestra persicariae (see remarks under connivens)-, in North America 

 it is bred from a Hyphantia. With us Nielsen has bred it from S. lubri- 

 cipeda (Entom. Meddel. 2, IV, 1909, 60, as Tachina larvarum, and 

 ibid. 2, IV, 1913, 372) and further from M. persicariae (Vidensk. 

 Medd. fra Dansk naturh. Foren. 66, 1915, 215, as E. connivens, see 

 remarks under this species), and in the first cited place larva and 

 pupa are described. Nielsen gives also here the biology, and partly 

 on base of it Baer 1. c. likewise gives a record of the biology. It is 

 thus recorded that the species has two yearly broods, one in M. ca- 

 strensis, and this pupates in the host, while the other parasited 

 S. lubricipeda, and bores out of the empty skin of the host and pupates 

 in the ground. Now while Nielsen in 1909 mentioned his species (as 

 T. larvarum) as parasitic on both the named caterpillars, he speaks 

 in the correction in 1913 only of the Spilosoma, which he declares 

 was infested both by T. larvarum and E. radicum, and I therefore 

 think that he had not got the Ernestia from Malacosoma, and that 

 thus only the facts recorded with regard to the parasite in Spilosoma 

 belong to the present species. I think this also for the reason that 

 Nielsen mentions that the eggs are deposited on the larva of M. ca- 

 strensis, and this probably refers to T. larvarum. I also find in Nielsen' s 

 collection the present species bred only from S. lubricipeda. As 

 regards the biology it can be said, that there are two to seven 

 parasites in eacli host-larva; the parasite bores out of the empty 

 skin of the host-larva and pupates in the ground; they generally 

 hibernate thus and develop in May and June, but some may develop 

 already in autumn. The species has then, at all events in our country, 

 only one yearly brood, as also recorded by Nielsen (Vidensk. Medd. fra 

 Dansk naturh. Foren. 69, 1918, 255). 



Geographical distribution: — ■ All Europe; towards the north to 

 middle Scandinavia and Finland. It occurs also in North America. 



6. E. caesia Fall. 



1810. Fall. Vet. Acad. Handl. XXXI, 270 et 1820. Dipt. Suec. Muse. 

 27, 55 {Musca). — 1824. Meig. Syst. Beschr. IV, 247, 14 [Tachina) et 1838. 



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