Tebruary, '12] aldricH: THERONIA FULVESCENS 87 



spared in the execution of the inspections. But at the same time I 

 should be pleased to observe, that the American authorities by looking 

 after the declarations belonging to each consignment from a Dutch- 

 man should ascertain for themselves the origin of the shipment in 

 •question. 



"It may be possible, that some copy is lost from a box or bale, but 

 this will not be the case with all copies of the shipment, and anyhow 

 the original certificate belonging to the whole shipment must be 

 present. - 



"I always will be obliged for the communication of all contravention 

 of the rules mentioned above. 



"Might some alteration be settled either in the text of the copies 

 •or in that of the certificate itself. I hope to inform you at an early 

 date." 



With many kind regards, 



Yours very truly, 



J. RlTSEMA Bos. 



NOTE ON THERONIA FULVESCENS 



By J. M. Aldkich, Moscow, Ida. 



A reperusal of some back numbers of the Journal leads me to offer 

 a belated note on the above species as a parasite of Neophasia menapia, 

 the white butterfly of western pine and fir. Fiske and Thompson 

 (Journal, 2: 455) mention fulvescens as "the most common parasite 

 of the gypsy moth native to America," but add that it has been re- 

 <3orded both as primary and secondary in some of its host relations. 

 At the time of the publication of that item I intended to add the 

 following, but postponed action until it was for the time forgotten. 



Neophasia menapia was for some years after its discovery an exces- 

 sively rare butterfly, only a few specimens finding their way into col- 

 lections. Later it was found once or t^vice in swarms in the western 

 forests, and again it seemed to disappear. In this period I came to 

 Idaho in 1893. Two years later it began to be noticeably abundant 

 near Moscow, Idaho, and in 1896-7-8 it caused much loss in the 

 forests of the northwest by completelj^ defoliating pine and fir timber 

 in considerable areas, while in all the intervening forests it was very 

 abundant also. At this point Theronia fulvescens attracted my atten- 

 tion as a parasite of the butterfly, material reared by me from pupae 

 of the latter being determined by the Bureau of Entomology. The 

 parasite reached its maximun in 1898, at which time it swarmed in 

 the woods in late summer in incredible numbers. In places the air 



