BIOTIC ASSOCIATIONS OF COCKROACHES— ROTH & WILLIS 235 



these wasps may become a nuisance ; a family in Worthington, Ohio, 

 complained of the evaniid wasps that they found on the windows and 

 in other areas of their home, but they were apparently not annoyed 

 by the oriental cockroaches in the basement (Edmunds, 1953). 



The known parasites of cockroach eggs are listed below with sum- 

 maries of their biology. 



Family EVANIIDAE 

 Acanthinevania princeps (Westwood) 

 Synonymy. — Evania princeps [Dr. H. Townes, personal communi- 

 cation, 1956]. 



Natural host.— Cockroach eggs, Australia (Froggatt, 1906). 



Brachygaster minutus (Olivier) 



Synonymy. — Evania minuta Olivier [Kieflfer, 1920]. 



Natural hosts. — Blattella germanica, Europe? (Schletterer, 1889; 

 Kiefer, 1912; Crosskey, 1951.) 



Ectobius lapponicus, Europe? (Schletterer, 1889; Kieflfer, 1912; 

 Crosskey, 195 1.) 



Ectobius panseri var. nigripesf Great Britain (Blair, 1952) : This 

 is a presumptive record. The wasp was collected at Niton and Headon 

 Hill, Isle of Wight, an area in which this variety of E. panseri was the 

 only species of cockroach known to occur. 



Ectobius sp., England (Cameron, 1955, 1957) : Natural History 

 Museum records. 



Adult wasps have been collected on Asparagus officinalis Linnaeus 

 (Schmiedeknechtm Schletterer, 1889; Crosskey, 1951). Thompson's 

 (1951) citation of records of B. minutus and Evania appendigaster 

 from Blatta orientalis and Blattella germanica, and Cameron's (1957) 

 citation of these records and one from Ectobius lapponicus, all attrib- 

 uted to Kadocsa (1921), are almost certainly in error. Kadocsa 

 (1921, p. 33) listed these wasps as egg parasites of cockroaches but 

 not necessarily in Hungary and did not name specific cockroach hosts. 



The present writers have found no information, other than host re- 

 ports, on the biology of Brachygaster minutus. The records of this 

 wasp parasitizing B. germanica may trace back to Schletterer, but his 

 listing may not have been an original observation. Since the female of 

 B. germanica carries its ootheca attached to the abdomen until or just 

 before the eggs hatch, it would seem that the female of B. minutus (if 

 the host records are valid) must oviposit into the ootheca of this 

 species while it is still being carried by the female ; this would not 



