116 [October, 



upon them scuttling off with their prey in their falces, and not unfrequently they 

 occur in the same way in the sweeping net, cither having been surprised in the act 

 and still unwilling to relinquish their chances of a dinner, or having taken advantage 

 of the abundant supply of provision furnished in the heterogeneous contents of the 

 net. One I remember to have seen bravely struggling with a refractoi'y Miris larva, 

 and another had a charming Chlorita viridula locked in its deadly embrace. — E. A. 

 BuTiER, University Lower School, Hastings : September 11th, 1882. 



Parasites on Homoptera. — Collectors of Somoptera must occasionally have 

 observed black objects projecting from the bodies of these insects. As far as my 

 experience goes, they are scarce, except on the TypMocyhidce, but on some species of 

 them they are common, each individual, however, having but one parasitic append- 

 age. This is in the form of a long, sub-ovoid sac, very large in proportion to the 

 size of the body of the foster-insect, protruding from between two of the segments 

 of the abdomen, and tightly affixed at one end, otherwise free ; the contour of the 

 body being much distorted by the intruder, and it has been observed that the 

 rictims are always females. Curtis says of his Aphrodes craticula (== Athysanus 

 subfusculus, Fall., sec. Puton) : "It is infested in the different stages with a lai'ge 

 black parasite attached to the sides of the thorax" (B. E., p. 633, 12), but I have 

 not seen any parasites so located. I have often been asked if these apodal bodies 

 were acaroid, but although I had made many enquiries I had not been able to obtain 

 any satisfactory information as to their nature. Now, however, a light is thrown 

 upon the subject by Herr Josef Mik, who, in one of the most interesting biological 

 articles I have seen for a long time, published in the current number of the " Wiener 

 entomologische Zeituug," page 215, demonstrates from actual experiment that one 

 of this kind of pai-asite found on Deltocephalus xanthoneuriis, Fieb., in September, 

 became detached, fell to the ground, and produced in the next June a ? Gonatopus 

 pilosus, Thoms. (Hymenopt. Proctotrupidse) . The details of the history (wanting 

 some points as to the time and manner of deposition of the egg and the hibernation 

 of the parasites vmder natural conditions) ai"e fully given, together with descriptions 

 and figures showing the Gonatopus in its various stages of life. We have thus a 

 guide to investigations in this curious and hitherto obscure subject ; what if all the 

 species of Gonatoptis, of which thei-e are several in Britain, be parasitic on 

 Homoptera ? 



It appears, by a foot-note, that Gonatopus pedestris, Dalm., was recorded in 

 1857, as having been reared by the late M. Edouard Ferris from Athysanits mari- 

 timus, Ferr. (Gen. Thamnotettix, sec. Futon), but this in no way detracts from Herr ; 

 Mik's discovery, for the fact only became known to him subsequently. — J. W. 

 Douglas, 8, Beaufort Gardens, Lewisham : 11th September, 1882. 



Parasites on Homoptera. — I once found a parasite on lassus subfusculus, and 

 I have met with it again on Acocephalus agrestis. This latter I kept for some time 

 alive, and fed it on grasses, &c. The parasite at length burst open the black case, 

 which appears to be the hardened skin of the larva, still attached to the host. It 

 opened into two equal parts, and allowed the pupa to drop out, in which 

 state it still remains, and I hope I shall be able to rear it to perfection. The host 



