262 



SOME SOl'TH INDIAN INSECTS, ETC. 



< HAP. NNI. 



1 In Ichneumonidae, or [chneumon Flies, are large to moderate- 

 sized slender, waspish Hymenoptera, their females armed with an 

 exserted ovipositoi which maj be several times the length of the 

 whole body, especially in the case of species which are parasitic 

 on larvae living in dead wood, into which the ovipositor may be 

 thrust to a great depth in order to oviposit in the concealed larvae. 

 The members oi this group are often parasitic on lepidopterous 

 larvae, which are hunted down and eggs deposited in, or occasion- 

 ally on, them by means of tlie ovipositor. The eggs presently 

 hatch into small white grubs which feed inside the stuns larva 

 eating the fat and non-vital portions until they are full-grown, by 

 which time the larva has generally ceased feeding and pupated, 

 when the grubs consume the remainder and then themselves pupate 

 in the pupal shell of their host, afterwards biting their way out and 

 emerging as adult flies to continue their beneficial labours of 

 destroying caterpillars. 



V <W* 



I iG 89. \ ( liil.nl Fly, Eretmocerus sp., parasitic on th< Castoi 



Aleurodid; Coimbatore, May 1913. The natural size is shown 



l>\ the small figure within the Circle, (i Iriginal). 



["he Chalcididae oi Chalcid Flies are small to minute Hymen- 

 optera, often brilliantly shining or metallic in colour, which 

 parasitize insects of almost all Orders, many being themselves 

 1 1 \ pel parasites on Ichneumon ids or other Chalcids. As an example 

 of this group we figure an undescribed species, apparently belong- 

 ing to the genus Erefmocerus, which parasitizes the Castor Aleurodid. 

 Man} insects of this family, it may be noted, are highly important 

 as checks on Scale-insects and some have been imported from one 

 country to another expressly to check the attacks of Scale-insects, 

 in which success has been attained in several cases. 



The Proctotrypidae, or Proctotrypid Flies, are the only other 



family oi parasitic Hymenoptera that can be noticed here. They 

 are all minute insects, sometimes wingless and are mostly important 



