Dec. 20, 191S Biology of Apanteles mUitaris ' 503 



ness of the skin, except in newly-molted fifth-stage larvae. In such cases 

 they would run along the back of the host, jabbing with the ovipositor 

 but never succeeding in puncturing the skin. 



The eggs, when dissected from the body of a caterpillar immediately 

 following oviposition, are found to be separate. 



Oviposition in the field under natural conditions resulted in the 

 following numbers of cocoons collected from single hosts: 56, 90, 71, 

 79, 90, 7, 113, and 66. In the laboratory from 8 to 72 eggs were deposited 

 in one oviposition of less than one second, and in one case of four ovipo- 

 sitions 210 eggs were deposited in the same host. The extreme rapidity 

 of oviposition is apparently due to the activity of the caterpillar, which 

 usually immediately recognizes its enemy, rapidly smearing her with 

 saliva and often biting her. 



PARTHENOGENESIS 



During November and December a number of experiments were con- 

 ducted in the laboratory to determine whether parthenogenesis takes 

 place. Unfertilized females were obtained from separate cocoons and 

 were allowed to oviposit in small caterpillars, which they readily did. 

 Males emerged from all the cocoons of A . militaris originating from these 

 caterpillars, clearly showing that this species is parthenogenetic and 

 indicating that unfertilized females give rise to a generation of males. 



FEEDING EXPERIMENTS AND LONGEVITY 



Adults which emerged on August 14 were confined in a lantern -globe 

 cage in which grass was growing. They were fed on a mixture of honey 

 and water, this being sprayed in minute droplets on the grass and walls 

 of the cage. The adults were of both sexes and were kept alive for some 

 time, the last one dying on September i. 



One female used in oviposition experiments was kept alive for eight 

 days in a test tube, being fed honey, and another under the same condi- 

 tions lived for seven days. 



On November 6 and 7 a large number of newly emerged males were 

 confined and fed in two lantern-globe cages indoors, as described above. 

 These males were not allowed to copulate, and many lived until the first 

 of December, the last dying on December 9 and 10. 



WINTERING FORMS 



All attempts at this station (La Fayette, Ind.) to winter this parasite 

 under various conditions while in the cocoon have been unsuccessful. 

 Mr. G. G. Ainslie, stationed at Nashville, Tenn., found this year (1915) 

 that the army worm passed the winter there as young larvae and, further, 

 that specimens under observation were parasitized in the fall, for the 

 parasites completed their growth and emerged this spring. Again, 

 according to Gibson (i, p. 27), the army worm winters in Canada as 



