38o 



William Morton Wheeler 



5. The table shows that the sexual ratio ot the Xenos (3. 7 males 

 to I female) was almost the reverse of that of the sexual ratio of 

 the Polistes. That the male parasites should be nearly four times 

 as numerous as the females is easily explained, however, from the 

 fact that the males are so much smaller than the females that more 

 of them can develop to maturity in a single host. 



In addition to these more general conclusion, a number of more 



Fig. I. Specimens of Polistes metrica heavily parasitized by Xenos (Acroschismus) wheeleri. 



special deductions may be mentioned, based on the daily tables 

 which are too long and complicated to be inserted here: 



I. The number of Xenos in a single Polistes varied from i to 11. 

 The latter number was taken from only three wasps and these 

 were all females. Ten Xenos were taken from a single individual, 

 also a female, and as a rule the higher numbers, i.e., 5 to 9 were 

 all taken from wasps of this sex, but one male contained 8 of the 

 parasites. In the great majority of infested specimens only one 



