i«'M 235 



In a nest of B. lapidarius I found 16 female Psithyri in a torpid state (August 

 17th). There were no queens in the nest, but about 25 workers and 12 males. This 

 nest was in a rat's hole, and contained several Quedii (mesomelinns) and a large 

 colony of wax-moth larvae. — W. B. Tuck, Tostock, Bury St. Edmunds : August 

 3l8t, 1897. 



The parasitism of Ichneumon {Leistodromus) nycthemenis, Grav. — l have lately 

 bred a specimen of this rare insect, whose habits were pi-eviously unknown. Both 

 Gravenhorst and Wesmael have recorded it on the Continent, the former twice 

 over, once as /. ttycthemerus, and again as /. quiiique-punciatus ; it is easy to see that 

 these two names are synonyms. Wesmael has given a good coloured figure of the 

 species. No mention of it as indigenous occurs (I believe) except in Desvignes's 

 Catalogue of the Ichneumonidae in the British Museum, where a specimen may be 

 seen ; and I have never heard of any further captures. By sweeping a Syrinya 

 which grows on my lawn I obtained last July two green sluggish larvae with black 

 narrow heads, which at first puzzled me, as they had scarcely a Lepidopterous ap- 

 pearance. I fed them on Syringa for a few days, when one of them shrivelled and 

 died ; the other, after doubling its size, changed to a pupa, which I at first con- 

 jectured to be that of a Thecia, but doubtfully, as no Thecla has ever been seen in 

 my garden. Further enquiry, however, showed it to belong to the " holly-blue " 

 {Argiohis), and it agreed fairly well with Buckler's figure. This identification is 

 confirmed by the fact that Argiolus is one of the common insects of the garden, 

 flying about the holly trees, on the blossoms of which the caterpillar feeds. The 

 two caterpillai's of which I speak fell out of the Syringa, and were fed afterwards 

 upon the leaves of the same tree. I should state that this Syringa grows so close to 

 a variegated holly that the branches intermingle, yet not on the side where the 

 caterpillars were found. The larva of Argiolus, then, will certainly feed upon 

 Syringa as well as upon holly and ivy. In about a month I found that the surviving 

 chrysalis had produced the handsome parasite above named, remarkable for the five 

 yellow spots on its abdomen {quinque-punctatus, Grrav.). — T. A. Marshall, Botus- 

 fleming, Cornwall : September 2nd, 1897. 



Tlneyrius bred from Depressaria heracJeana. — On reading Mr. Douglas's note 

 at p. 21 2 of this vol., I am reminded that I collected last June a number of these 

 larvae from tlie flower heads of Heracleum giganteum, with a view of obtaining 

 parasites. About twenty passed through their changes and became moths, the last 

 six were parasitized. Their enemy was a minute Encyrtus, the specific name of 

 which I cannot pretend to give. It infests each larva in prodigious numbers. The 

 victims when about to perish become of a brighter yellow, without the bluish or 

 greenish tinge which belongs to healthy subjects. They crawl away from tlieir nests 

 in the tops of the umbellate plants, and fix themselves at random about the breeding 

 cage. In a day or two they are found dead, elongated and swollen ; their semi- 

 transparent cuticle shows their inside to be crowded with pupae of Encyrtus, packed 

 as closely as grains of corn in a sack. A fortnight suffices for the development of 

 these pai-asites, which emerge to the number of 100 or more from each larva. The 

 stiff empty skin preserves the form and, in many cases, the colours of life, much 

 resembling an artificial preparation. The facts of this case are entirely conformable 



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