302 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



in examining the scales at first with her antennae and finally wdth the 

 ovipositor used as a probe. The latter is therefore not merely an in- 

 strument for depositing eggs but is also used in the preliminary process 

 of ascertaining the presence and position of the primary larva within 

 the body of the host. If no larva is present the female withdraws the 

 ovipositor presumably without depositing any eggs, or at least if eggs 

 are placed in the body of an unparasitized scale they fail to develop. 

 If, on the other hand, the female detects in the course of the probing 

 movements of the ovipositor the larva of Microterys or Aphycus she 

 forthwith places an egg within its body. She also oviposits in full 

 grown larvae and fresh pupae after the host scale has been reduced to 

 a mere shell of integument. The primary larva moreover is never 

 under any circumstances killed by the Eusemion, until it has completed 

 its own growth and has voided the meconial discharge. 



The egg of Eusemion longipenne belongs to an entirely distinct type 

 from that of Microterys or Aphycus and is deposited free within the 

 body of the primary larva or pupa. It is decidedly minute and has 

 only a short pedicel, which is functionless after maturation and finally 

 shrivels away. The egg grows or increases in size with the development 

 of the embryo, so that the newly hatched larva is many times the size 

 of the freshly deposited egg. 



The larva is rather distinctive in the three larval stages so that the 

 latter may be readily distinguished. The first stage is characterized 

 by a rather conspicuous tail-appendage, but the head is not developed 

 as in the big-mandibled, tailed larvae of certain Braconidae. The 

 tail-appendage persists in the secondary stage although it is much 

 shorter, and the third stage is destitute of any such specialized struc- 

 ture. The larvae, of course, live free within the body of the host, 

 and their exact position may vary, as they have been found while 

 still small either in the head or the abdomen of the pupa. Two or 

 three may develop for a time within one host, but only one survives. 

 On completing its growth the larva entirely consumes the host except 

 the integument and finally makes its escape from the filmy remains. 

 It then proceeds to cast its meconium and complete its transformations 

 within the body cavity of the scale. The entire development from the 

 egg to the issuance of the adult takes place in seventeen or eighteen 

 days at summer temperature. The adult female has been kept alive 

 in captivity for twenty-eight days when allowed to oviposit and as 

 long as seventy-nine days when not supplied with hosts. 



Source of the Parasites of the Soft Scale ix California 



The source of the soft-scale parasites is of some interest in connec- 

 tion with the long-continued efforts of the State Commission of Horti- 



