February, '13] IMAGINATION and FACTS 147 



ing the ovipositor, she kept working it up and down for 40 seconds, 

 and then she fed at this puncture for 1 minute and 30 seconds, when 

 she left the larva. After feeding on this larva she parasitized 4 pupae. 



On the following day she fed on another spun-up larva, working the 

 ovipositor up and down in the larva for 2 minutes, fed for 1 minute and 

 15 seconds; worked for 1 minute and 35 seconds; fed for 1 minute and 

 10 seconds; worked for 35 seconds; fed for 3 minutes and 30 seconds; 

 and then left it. 



On November 8 a pupa that had been left over night in the vial with 

 the parasite had been fed on. After parasitizing two pupae she fed 

 on the third one that was put in the vial. She worked her ovipositor 

 up and down in the pupa for 2 minutes and 45 seconds, then fed for 1 

 minute and 40 seconds and then left it. This parasite was destroyed 

 by a mouse on the following night. 



On November 8 four more females of this species were taken in the 

 field and brought into the insectary. Three of them were very small 

 and appeared weak and after trying for 9 or 10 minutes to oviposit 

 in a pupa, they usually left it. They only lived for a day or two in 

 the insectary. The fourth one was nearer normal size and during the 

 five days she lived she parasitized 9 and fed on 2 pupae. 



The last pupa that this parasite parasitized was on November 13 

 and after puncturing the pupa with her ovipositor she kept it in the 

 pupa for over 14 minutes before she oviposited. On this date she 

 appeared quite sluggish, as if about ready" to die, and on the following 

 morning was found dead. 



IMAGINATION AND FACTS 



Imagination is of great service to the scientific man. The formula- 

 tion of important hypotheses has depended in large measure on the 

 judicious exercise of this faculty. We present below a reprint of a 

 leaflet forwarded through the courtesy of a collaborator and showing 

 the results of allowing imagination free reign — cerebration unem- 

 barrassed by facts. The scientific attitude toward spontaneous gen- 

 eration, if suspected in the slightest degree by the writer, is cheerfully 

 ignored. The fundamental biological law, like produces like, is sus- 

 pended. Nature is depicted as creating an organism destined to 

 perish without providing for the perpetuity of the species. The suc- 

 cession of stages observed in so many insects is disregarded. Our 

 friend sees no advantage in food stored in the seed. 



COW PEA WEEVILS 



These germinate inside the pea itself, they do not, as many think, come from an 

 egg laid on the outside of the seed by some insect. 



