472 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 9 



3d. The greater safety, since there will be no necessity of keeping 

 a stock of the poison in the house. 



The trustees of every city infested by the Argentine Ant can thus 

 provide the means of avoiding the lowering of the value of their resi- 

 dence property due to the presence of this insect. 



Chairman H. J. Quayle: This paper is now open to discussion. 



Dr. E. G. Titus: In the paper read the date of the first collecting 

 of the Argentine ant is given as 1908. I took it in the year 1905 at 

 Ontario, Cal. 



Mr. H. S. Smith : What influence has Argentine ant on the numbers 

 of scale insects? Professor Lounsbury reports the black scale as a 

 pest only after the appearance of the Argentine ant in South Africa? 



Chairman H. J. Quayle: The soft brown becomes specially seri- 

 ous under its influence. The ants keep off the parasites and the ab- 

 sence of parasitism is noticeable in the case of this scale. It has not 

 been noted, however, in connection with the black scale. 



Mr. H. S. Smith: The Argentine ants cause the disappearance of 

 ladybird beetles in breeding cages. 



Dr. E. G. Titus: I saw the ants eating the eggs of ladybird beetles 

 at New Qrleans. 



Chairman H. J. Quayle: The next paper has been prepared by 

 J. G. Bridwell of Honolulu, H. T. and will be read by Mrs. Bridwell 

 who has come for this purpose. 



BREEDING FRUIT-FLY PARASITES IN THE HAWAIIAN 



ISLANDS 



By J. G. Bridwell 



Among the fruit-fly parasites brought to Honolulu by Professor 

 Silvestri from Africa and Australia in 1913 for the Board of Agriculture 

 and Forestry of Hawaii were three Opiine Braconids attacking maggots 

 while in the fruit. Difficulties encountered in breeding these in cap- 

 tivity resulted in the loss of Opius perproximus. Optus humilis and 

 Diachasma tryoni only were established in the Hawaiian Islands by 

 liberating the parasites under tents over coffee trees in Kona, Hawaii, 

 the tents being left upon the trees for about ten days and the fruit left 

 undisturbed. It fell to the writer to handle material from which 

 Opius humilis was later recovered. The material so recovered per- 

 mitted experiments which established a successful method of breeding 

 the species in captivity which has since facilitated the multiplication 

 of Opiine parasites and the simple cage devised has proved adaptable 



