474 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 9 



single female and 3 males from this lot were employed in a single ex- 

 periment to test the writer's theory of the cause of the failure of the 

 method previously employed. 



The damp atmosphere of the fruit enclosed on damp sand in a jar 

 and the resulting dew on the glass formed one obviously unfavorable 

 environment for the delicate parasites. The absence of females, ex- 

 cept in a single lot of puparia, suggested failure to secure proper mating 

 and the production of males by parthenogenesis. Observation showed 

 that males placed with females in tubes usually showed but little 

 sexual excitement until exposed to strong light or sunlight. A tube 

 containing both sexes when exposed to sunlight for a very short time 

 became an animated scene and the males became highly excited, run- 

 ning about with their wings elevated and repeatedly attempted mating. 

 In a test tube, however, the attempts at mating usually proved abor- 

 tive and in only a very few instances was actual copulation observed. 



It seemed then only necessary to expose the fruit to the parasites in 

 a cage allowing free access to the air and perhaps a moment's exposure 

 to the sunlight to start mating in a more favorable situation. The 

 writer had just been reading of the success in breeding dipterous para- 

 sites of the gipsy moth in small wire cylinders and it occurred to him 

 preferable to make his first attempt in such a cage. Accordingly he 

 constructed a crude cylinder about 5 x 2| inches and placed in it coffee 

 berries infested with fruit-fly maggots, a single female and several 

 males of the parasite, which he left for two days. From the resulting 

 puparia ten parasites emerged, equally divided between the sexes. 



A subsequent sending of the coffee berries from Kona gave ample 

 material for breeding but for some months' time failed for further 

 experiment, the work of editing the Silvestri report and seeing it 

 through the press preventing further experiment at the time and for 

 some months the parasites were bred exclusively by the tent method, 

 the fruit from each tent being collected and the parasites bred out in 

 the insectary. Subsequent experiments confirmed the impression of 

 the conditions necessary for success and ultimately the following 

 apparatus and method was adopted and put into use. In Africa, also, 

 this cage was successful and upon his return in December, 1915, the 

 method was still employed in the insectary. 



It was desired to keep several males and females of the parasite with 

 the fruit until decay compelled their removal to preserve them alive 

 and recover them, to make the cage as light and airy as conveniently 

 might be and to prevent the parasites getting away any considerable 

 distance from the fruit or from their food. To prevent the parasites 

 from becoming entangled and destroying themselves, it is necessary 

 to have the cage within free from crevices into which they may pene- 



