116 



MISCELLANEOUS PAPEKS. 



The great fecundity and consequent importance of Blepharipa scu- 

 tellata and Crossocosmia sp. as parasites of Porthetria dis'par is 

 strongly- suggested in a native species of ParacluHa^ whose uterus we 

 found to contain some 5,000 minute black eggs similar to those of 

 scutellata. Some of these uterine eggs, upon being slightly pressed 

 beneath a cover glass, disclosed the fully formed maggots, which fact 

 proves our supi^osition that eggs of the leaf-ovipositing species are 

 ready to hatch at the time of deposition, Sasaki has shown this to be 

 the case with the Uji parasite. Furthermore, the structure of the mag- 

 got itself, as well as that of the chorion, show^s that the former may 

 remain quiescent within the latter for a considerable period until the 

 Qgg is swallowed by a caterpillar. The newly-hatched maggots of this 

 group are quite as specialized as are those of the 

 magnicornis group, but in a totally different di- 

 rection. Those above mentioned were found to 

 be broad-oval, considerably flattened, the an- 

 terior end slightly narrowed and pointed, and 

 with tlie spines chiefly dis2:)osed on the anterior 

 segments. There are 12 rows of spines, each 

 segment except the last having a row, but the 

 row^s of the middle segments are very short. The 

 first four rows, on segments 1 to 4, are complete 

 and continuous on all sides; the next seven rows, 

 on segments 5 to 11, are incomplete, showing 

 from 4 to 8 spines in the middle on the ventral 

 surface only, segments (> to 9 having the least; 

 the last row, on the preanal segment, is complete. 

 The spines of the first three dorsal rows are espe- 

 cially strongly hooked and claAV-like, the lioolc 

 process of each pointing backward so as to hold the maggot in pier- 

 cing the walls of the alimentary canal of the caterpillar. The spines 

 of the other rows are also claw-like, but the hooks are less strongly 

 developed. Last, but especially suggestive, is the fact that the lateral 

 portions of the maggot show a roAV of large fat globules on each side 

 just inside the skin, which are no doubt designed to sustain the 

 maggot until the Qgg is swallowed. (See fig. 30.) 



Gon'ta frontosa Say, Pseiidoger'maria sp., BlepJiaripeza leucophrys 

 Wiedemann and a second species, ParacJueta sp., Latreillimyia sp. 

 (aberrant form from Pennsylvania), Triachora unifasciata Desvoidy, 

 two species doubtfully referred to Masicera, Exorista sp., Etinsyropa 

 hlanda Osten Sacken, Sisyropa sp., and two species near Eusisyropa 

 (Laboratory Nos. 1979, 2322) have all been found to have minute eggs 

 similar in size to those of Blepharipa scutellata. Thus, at the very 

 first examination of our native species we find fourteen different forms 

 that we can say positively have the leaf-oviposition habit. Five of 



Fig. .so. — Parachwin sp. : 

 Uterine egg with 

 c li o r i o n removed, 

 showing structure of 

 the fully formed mag- 

 s' o t from h e 1 o w. 

 Highly magnified 

 (original i. 



