100 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



young glow-worms. On removing them I discovered that they 

 were of various sizes ; they moved slowly and some of the largest 

 seemed as if they were either dead or in a torpid state, but these 

 proved to have been punctured by a little parasite allied to 

 Gnatho dispar (Colax, pi. 166), a great number of which after- 

 wards hatched. The larvae were of a dead deep chocolate 

 colour, but ferruginous beneath. ... In three weeks some 

 of these larvae became pupa; of a deep ochreous colour, but they 

 soon died." 



The Colax disjmr figured on PI. 166, ' British Entomology,' 

 vol. iii, is not, however, identical with the Chalcid now observed 

 (this is confirmed by Mr. Bos), and it was not possible to 

 discover in the present case whether parasitism actually took 

 place before or after pupation. The passage quoted above does 

 not, unfortunately, make it clear how the identity of the larvae 

 was established, and although the description " pupae of a deep 

 ochreous colour " might do for parasitised Endomychus pupae, 

 it could not possibly refer to healthy ones. Westwood (' Mod. 

 Class. Insects,' vol. i, p. 394) mentions the observations of 

 Curtis, and Walker published a short description (' Ent. Mag.,' 

 1836, p. 496) of the parasite from Curtis' MS., naming it 

 Pteromahis Endomychi (see also Elliott and Morley in ' Trans. 

 Ent. Soc.,' 1907, p. 12, and 1911, p. 456). There is also a 

 description of a Chalcid parasite from an Endomychus sp., in 

 a paper on "Parasitic Hymenoptera " by Ashmead ('Trans. 

 Amer. Ent. Soc.,' 1896, p. 227), to which Mr. Claude Morley 

 kindly referred me. This species, described as EndomycJiohius 

 fiavipes, sp. n., from "one ^ and six $ specimens bred from 

 the supposed larva of Endomychus higuttntus, Say," from 

 Columbia, is, however, evidently not the same as the present 

 insect. 



Mr. Morley, who examined my specimens, is of opinion that 

 they are undoubtedly the same species as that described by 

 Walker as Pteromalus Endomychi. The description, however, 

 does not apply to Curtis's figure of Colax dispar, which is un- 

 questionably a different insect. V/alker states that his descrip- 

 tion is from a male specimen, but Mr. L. A. Bos kindly tells 

 me he considers that it really refers to tbe female. He says, 

 in litt. : " The c? has the antennae shorter and entirely fulvous. 

 In the ? the abdomen is almost circular and in colour as 

 described by Walker. In the 3 the abdomen is narrower, the 

 sides being parallel, and aeneous or dark escept the base, which 

 is fulvous." 



In view of the interest attaching to this confirmation of an 

 old record, it would seem worth re-publishing Walker's original 

 description,* with one or two notes by Mr. Bos. 



" Sp. 163. Pteromalus endomychi (Curtis MSS.). Mas: 



* Walker, ' Ent. Mag.,' 1836, p. 496. 



