78 



PSYCHE. 



[May 1S94. 



Linoceras jniiceiis Cr. is the only 



iclineumonid reared from them in this 



country. 



Fatnily XVII. Sapygidae. All 



the species in this family, as well as in 

 the three following families — the Tynni- 

 dae, Scoliidae and Mutillldae — are with- 

 out doubt parasitic. 



Mr. R. Desvoidy was the tirst to 

 priive the parasitic habits of Sapyga, 

 by breeding the European Sapyga 

 punctata from the cells of Osmia hali- 

 cicola; also by his observation on 

 Sapyga chclostomae which is parasitic 

 on one of the bees, Chelostoma sp. 



Palochiiim rcpaiidiim Spinola, rep- 

 resenting another genus in the family, is 

 parasitic on Xylocopa violacea. 



Notwithstanding the fact that in our 

 fauna, this family is represented by 2 

 genera and 22 species, no observations 

 have been published respecting a single 

 species. 



In Dr. Riley's collection, now in the 

 National museum, is, however, a single 

 specimen of a Sapjga bred at Toronto, 

 Canada, by Mr. VV. A. Williams from 

 the cells of Pelopaeus cementarius. 



Family XVIII. Scoliidae. Very 

 little seems to be known of the habits 

 of the 5 genera and 44 species of these 

 insects found in our fauna. 



All reliable observations published 

 show the species are parasitic on various 

 scarabaeid larvae and I believe most of 

 the species will be found to attack the 

 larvae of the Coleopterous family Scara- 

 baeidae. 



Tiphia iiiornata Say has been bred 

 by Dr. Riley from Lachnosterna larvae. 



while, as recorded by Mr. Howard, in 

 The Standard natural history, vol. ii, 

 p. 226, "Passerini found the larva of 

 Sco/ia /tavipes within the body of the 

 Lamellicorn beetle Oryctes nasicorfiis, 

 and similarly Coquerel states that Scolia 

 o}-yctophaga lives on Oryctes simia in 

 Madagascar. Sumichrast supposes that 

 the females of Scolia azteca lay their 

 eggs in cert;iin larvae which abound in 

 tan at Tehuacan." In the South I have 

 seen our common Scolia nobilitata 

 Fabr. preying iipon what I take to be 

 the larvae of a Diplotaxis. 



Family XIX. Tuvnnidae. This 

 family is closely related structurallv to 

 the preceding, and to tlie Mutillidae. 

 No species is described from North 

 America, unless wc call the brief men- 

 tion of Thynnus californicus (Ent. 

 news, 1892, p. 104), by Wm. H. Patton, 

 a description. The family is well repre- 

 sented in South America, Africa, and 

 Australia, and although there are 

 several hundred described species, up 

 to the present time, the habits of not a 

 single species is known. The familv is 

 probably parasitic on bees. 



Fa?nily XX. Mutillidae. This 

 familv is extensively represented in our 

 fauna by 8 genera and over 160 species, 

 many of the genera being characterized 

 from one sex. usually the male, the oppo- 

 site sex being unknown. It is to be 

 hoped that our students will make an 

 effort to discover the females in those 

 genera now known only in the male sex. 



The species are without doubt para- 

 sitic in the nests of bees. Mutilla 

 eicropaea is parasitic on Bombits lapi- 



