20 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. Ill, 



It was while making these investigations, that this mite was 

 discovered attacking the larvae of the grain moth. As the 

 original publication containing my observations is becoming 

 more and more difficult to obtain, that portion of my paper relat- 

 ing to the occurrence of this mite is given herewith in full. 



Pedicnloides {Heieropus) veniricosus, Newport. About the 12th 

 of October, 1SS2, a sack of wheat infested with larvae of the strain 

 moth was received from Southern Illinois, which, for want of time, 

 was put aside for future inspection. On the 13th of November, while 

 examining the grains containing larvae, I noticed in a lot of fifty, 

 three in which the worms were dead, and on them were numbers of 

 globular, yellow objects, which proved to be a species of mite Pedicn- 

 loides {Heieropus) veniricosus, Newport. Knowing nothing of the pre- 

 daceous habits of these mites, and the limited literature at hand 

 throwing little light upon the matter, I did not pay much attention 

 to the fact of their occurrence, until the 12th of December, when upon 

 examining one hundred grains with respect to the effect of heat on the 

 larva, I found fourteen of the latter infested by these mites. 



In the meantime I had learned that this mite was known to be of 

 predaceous habit, in both England and France, (having been first dis- 

 covered by Newport, in 1849, in the nests of AniJiophora reiusa, col- 

 lected at Gravesend, England,) and afterwards described by him 

 under its present name. It had also been found in France, in 18G8, 

 by Jules Lichtenstein, of Montpelier, and described by him under the 

 name of Physogaster larvarum. This gentleman found it in his breed- 

 ing cages, which it so completely overran that, as he informs me, he 

 could not for six months breed a single specimen of Hymenoptera, of 

 Buprestidae, or Cerambycidae, or of some Lepidoptera. If it has been 

 found by any other persons than these, or in any other parts of the 

 world, previous to its discovery here by mc, I have not been able to 

 find the fact recorded. 



On December 31st and January 1st, I examined one hundred infest- 

 ed grains of this wheat, which had been continually kept in the labora- 

 tory since it was received, and found thirty-two per cent, of the worms 

 dead, infested by the mites. 



While making these examinations I frequently threw the grains 

 containing infested larvae into a shallow glass dish, where they re- 

 mained on my table until the warm weather during the latter part of 

 February, when the temperature of the laboratory at night was much 

 higher than it had been during the previous cold weather. The effect 

 of the change was soon plainly to be seen. The contents of the dish 

 began to swarm with newly developed mites, and a larva dropped into 

 their midst was immediately attacked, and after that its life was of 

 short duration. Larvae placed at some distance from the dish suf- 

 fered a like infection. 



To test the matter I placed near the dish some weeds, in the pith of 

 which some larvae were hibernating, and in two days the mites had 

 found and destroyed them. These young mites when first noticed are 



