June, '10] HOWARD : CHALCID FEEDING HABITS 259 



scale of the Coccid and the ovipositor remained thus inserted for 

 some minutes. The Hymenopter then withdrew the ovipositor and 

 applied its head to the puncture and licked the imperceptible moisture. 

 It then again inserted its ovipositor, and again the puncture was 

 licked. 



' ' I have thus seen one of them pierce the same Aspidiotus eight times 

 and each time bend its head to the wound to lick the liquid which 

 issued. Without interruption, it pierced and licked alternately for 

 about forty-five minutes up to the time when I stopped it. The num- 

 ber of punctures given by the Aphelinus to the same Aspidiotus is 

 very variable. Frequently it does not exceed two or three, but it can 

 also be much greater. 



"It is very certain that each thrust of the ovipositor does not 

 correspond to the deposition of an egg, for I have only once found 

 two eggs' of the Aphelinus in one Aspidiotus upon which one of these 

 Hymenopters had worked in its accustomed manner for an hour. In 

 other cases it has been impossible not to discover the egg of the para- 

 site, which is rather large and could not escape my attention. It is 

 then very probable that the Aphelinus pierces certain Aspidiotus only 

 for nourishment. In any case many of the stings with the ovipositor 

 are given exclusively for this reason." 



Just as Marchal's observations upon the curious feeding habit of 

 the Tetrastichus on the elm leaf-beetle eggs were soon followed in 

 America by observations upon a congeneric insect attacking the as- 

 paragus beetle eggs, so in the case of the Aphelinus and its Diaspine 

 host Marchal's observations have been verified in America. At this 

 date of writing the writer has before him a note made November 7, 

 1908, by Mr. J. G. Sanders, then of this Bureau. Mr. Sanders's 

 note reads as follows: 



"The oviposition of Aphelinus fuscipenwis on Aspidiotus rapax. 



"On opening a package of Aspidiotus rapax from Catalina Island, 

 California, several parasites, Aphelinus fuscipennis, were noticed upon 

 the twigs. One female was observed upon the summit of a female 

 scale of Aspidiotus rapax critically examining the surface of the scale 

 with innumerable sweeps of the antennae from the margin to the 

 apex of the scale. After a moment's observation the ovipositor was 

 thrust into the scale near the apex, and constant working of the abdo- 

 men was continued for eight minutes, when the ovipositor was with- 

 drawn and the Aphelinus turned about and apparently sealed the 

 wound in the scale with her mandibles." 



An attempt has been made to watch the oviposition of other scale 

 insect parasites in the Department greenhouses since the arrival of 



