1917] Smith—Leaf-Oviposition Among the Parasitic Hymenoptera 65 
optera, and for this reason speculations on what may actually 
occur are rather interesting. 
“In the first place it is obvious from the facts recorded in the 
preceding pages that Perilampus does not oviposit directly in or 
upon its host. In the second place, it does not oviposit within the 
caterpillar of which its host is a primary parasite, which is equally 
obvious from the observations already made. That it places its 
eggs upon the young caterpillar is improbable, the adult Pertlampus 
being too slow and clumsy to be capable of accomplishing this 
act with any degree of certainty. 
“There are two plausible methods which Perilampus might 
- adopt for the deposition of its eggs, and the writer is strongly in- 
clined to the view that one of these methods is in part at least cor- 
_ rect. As in the case of some of the parasitic beetles, it may de- 
posit its eggs upon flower heads or upon leaves of plants not in the 
immediate vicinity of the caterpillar colony, the planidia hatching 
from these eggs being conveyed to the caterpillars by means of 
some intermediate carrier. In the Coleoptera cited above the 
carrier is frequently a parasitic bee upon which, by means of 
their claws, the triungulins attach themselves and are conveyed to 
the nest of their host. With Perilampus, should this method 
prove to be the one which really takes place, the intermediate 
carrier might be any of the primary parasites which attack Hy- 
phantria; that is, the hymenopterous parasites Limnerium or 
Apanteles, or the Tachinid Varicheta. The planidium seems more 
or less fitted for this sort of a life and is apparently analogous to 
the triungulin of the coleopterous parasites. The chitinous plates 
with which it is armored are especially serviceable in preventing 
injury of various kinds, and the mandibles and hooks and spines 
would serve it very well as a means of clinging to its 
conveyer. 
“The other method, which seems much more plausible, is that 
of oviposition upon the food plant in the vicinity of a colony of 
the caterpillars. This would do away with the necessity of an 
intermediate carrier, but would expose the delicate eggs to great 
danger unless they hatched immediately after deposition. : 
“While the eggs of Perilampus have not been observed after 
deposition, those contained in the ovarian tubes, in one case ap- 
