404 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGV [Vol. 9 



vibrating the wings and antennae. He very deliberately approaches 

 the female and immediately copulates, the operation taking but about 

 one minute. During copulation the male rapidly moves the head, 

 tapping the raised antennae of the female with his own, she remaining 

 still in ever}' member. ' 



Oviposition rapidly follows copulation and is extremely rigorous. 

 The female on locating a host larva raises with the fore legs the anterior 

 part of her body, thrusts forward the abdomen between the legs and 

 advances to striking distance. The strike is very rapid, the parasite 

 rushing upon its host and inserting the ovipositor within a fraction of a 

 second. The host resists. It bites, exudes a dark fluid from the 

 mouth and squirms violently. Often the parasite will withdraw from 

 its struggling host, but in a couple of seconds resumes its attack. It 

 is possible that a deadening sting is inflicted with the first strike, and 

 then oviposition is effected. 



The egg (Fig. 246) is elongate oval with the sides nearly parallel, 

 the surface is finely rugose, and the color is glistening white semi- 

 translucent. The egg measures .18 mm. in length and .09 mm. in 

 diameter. 



The puparium (Fig. 24c), as is the case with many species in this 

 genus, is made of the transformed and reinforced larval skin of the 

 host. The shape is fusiform with the ventral surface flattened and 

 affixed to the object on which it rests by a black viscid exudation, the 

 surface is turgid almost obliterating the segmentation of the host larval 

 skin, the color is deep rufous brown to black. The length averages 

 9 mm. and diameter, 3 mm. The adult parasite emerges by gnawing 

 an irregular hole caudad in the dorsum of the host skin. 



For convenience in referring to the original mother-parasites, the 

 females with which we began the experiments will be called "Rhogas 

 2," etc., and on up to "Rhogas 13" (Table I). All foregoing data rela- 

 tive to these parent females is to be had from this table. 



To "Rhogas 2, " larvae were exposed on November 15 and 23 respec- 

 tively. Puparia of offspring parasites appeared from these larvae 

 November 30 and December 14 respectively, giving 15 days for the egg 

 and larval period (up to formation of puparium) of the parasite in the 

 first case and 21 days in the latter case. Adults emerged December 24 

 and 29 respectively. Both were males. No male was brought near 

 this female, and therefore these offspring were produced parthenogenet- 

 ically. 



"Rhogas 3," being unmated, was placed in a Doten cage and a host 

 larva put in on November 17. It was immediately stung b}' parasite 

 and then removed. A parasite appeared from this host larva on 

 December 9, the adult male emerging on December 26. Likewise, 



