144 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



ON THE FEEDING HABITS OF PIMPLA (ITOPLECTIS) 

 CONQUISITOR SAYi 



By F. a. Johnston, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



During recent years several instances of the feeding of hj^menoptcrous 

 parasites at punctures made by the ovipositor in their host have been 

 recorded. 



Dr. L. 0. Howard, in an article in the Journal of Economic Ento- 

 mology, Vol. 1, No. 5, 1908, describes the observations of Paul Mar- 

 chal on the European Tetrastichus xanthomelcence, in which he was 

 of the opinion that in many cases the ovipositor was used to pierce the 

 egg in order .that the parasite might suck its contents. Similar obser- 

 vations were made on this species by Mr. W. F. Fiske when it was 

 imported into this country. 



In a circular of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station 

 (No. 23, July, 1909) on Tetrastichus asparagi Crawf., Dr. H. T. Fernald 

 mentions the fact that one of the observers of this insect at Concord, 

 Mass., reported seeing the parasite occasionally attack the eggs with 

 its mouthparts, consuming the contents of the egg. This same habit 

 was noticed by Mr. C. W. Prescott of Concord, Mass., and Mr. J. B. 

 S. Norton of the bureau of plant industry. Their observations were 

 later verified by Mr. A. F. Burgess of this Bureau. 



In an article in the Journal of Economic Entomology, Vol. 3, 

 No. 3, June, 1910, "On the Habit with Certain Chalcidoidea of Feed- 

 ing at Puncture Holes made by the Ovipositor," Dr. L. 0. Howard 

 mentions observations of Dr. Paul Marchal on the habit of Aphelinus 

 mytilaspidis feeding upon its host, Aspidiotus ostreceformis. He also 

 mentions that these observations of Marchal were soon followed in 

 America by Mr. J. G. Sanders, who noticed a similar habit of A^helifius 

 fuscipennis apparently feeding on its host, Aspidiotus rapax. 



Samuel B. Doten in Technical Bulletin No. 78, September 1911, 

 of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Nevada, 

 describes the habits of Meraporus sp. and Pteromalus puparum feeding 

 at punctures in chrysalides of Pontia rapes and of Microhracon jug- 

 landis feeding at punctures in the larvae of Ephestia kuehniella. 



While the writer was working on truck crop insects at Riverhead, 

 N. Y., during the season of 1912, Pimpla (Itoplectis) conquisitor Say 

 came under his observation as a parasite of Autographa hrassicce. 



On October 11 and 12 two males of this species were bred from pupse 

 of A. brassicoe and on October 30, while collecting pupae of A. hrassicce 

 in the field, a female was observed trying to oviposit in a pupa of A. 



» Published by permission of the Chief of the Bureau of Entomology 



