56 



article speaks of H. T. Osborn, of this Station, as hav- 

 ing found, in September, 1915, near Pearl City. Oahn, a tene- 

 brionid larva externally parasitized by a grub, and he concludes 

 that the latter must have been Epyris. During August and 

 September, 1918, I succeeded in rearing, from egg to adult, 

 six males and one female of Epyris extraneus Bridwell from 

 the larva of Gonocephalum ser'iatum. The adult Gonocepha- 

 lum (Fig. 1) is a stout oval, dull black beetle 8 or 9 milli- 

 meters long, very abundant at low levels, where it occurs under 

 clods of dirt, cane trash and otlier rul)l)isli. Its larva (Fig. 2) 

 is quite slender, hrm and cylindrical, of yellowish and brown 

 or straw color and at maturity is about 17 millimeters long. 

 It is a vigorous insect bearing a superficial resemblance to a 

 wire- worm (Elateridae), but does not appear to be injurious, 

 and in cane fields is probably a trash feeder. On being dug 

 (lut of the ground it usually ''plays possum" for a l)rief instant 

 and then hastens to get under cover, burying itself with com- 

 mendable speed. 



The black Epyris wasp (Fig. 3, female) is far smaller 

 than the larva it attacks; the female is about 6 mm. long and 

 the male often a little smaller. The female especially, is a 

 strongly made, lithe insect with stout jaws and legs, a good 

 flyer and a better digger, surpassing in the latter respect the 

 Scolia wasps which in habits it somewhat resembles. One 

 Epyris which I enclosed from August 5th to 18th with a num- 

 hev of Gonocephalum larvae in a tumbler partly filled with 

 earth, stung and parasitized 13 larvae. Two other wasps kept 

 for a short time laid 2 and 3 eggs respectively. The was]-)s 

 mandil)les are of a rather unusual ty]x\ but well fitted fur 

 gripping, being stout and son^ewhat recurved at the tip. It is 

 to be noted, however, that (under my limited ol)servations) she 

 selects larvae within a certain limit of size, i. e. from about 

 13.5 to nearly Ifi mm. long; these do not appear to be in the 

 last instar, Avhen they are prol^ablv too ]iowerful for her to 

 overcome. The prey though rendered helpless is not stung to 

 complete immobility; it is still capable of weak mouth and 



