1918] Wax Moth Parasite 179 



A series of healthy larvas were selected and each was pierced 

 deeply with a minuten pin from one to twenty-five times. In 

 spite of the fact that all stabbed in this way lost considerable 

 blood and many were weak after the operation, every one 

 recovered. Since the minuten pin was longer and thicker than 

 the ovipositor of the parasite, this experiment indicates that 

 the larvas were not killed by mechanical injury, but that some 

 poisonous material must be injected to cause their death. 



Packard* refers to Bordas as authority for the statement 

 that poison glands connected with the ovipositor may be safely 

 said to be of general occurrence in the Hymenoptera. Dissection 

 shows the presence of an organ which may be a poison gland 

 but, as yet, this point has not been definitely determined. 



Although apparently not mentioned in literature, this habit 

 of killing the host before oviposition may be common to many 

 of the ectoparasites of the superfamily Chalcidoidea. In 

 support of this supposition it may be stated that the author 

 has observed that the larvae of the white pine weevil, Pissodes 

 strobi, Peck, are always found to be dead when larvae of the 

 Chalcidid pavsisite' Eurytoma pissodis Gir., are found upon 

 them. The oviposition of this species has not as yet been 

 observed. Marcovitch,t while working with parasites of the 

 strawberry weevil, Anthonomiis signatus Say, never found the 

 eggs of certain Chalcidoid parasites on any but dead weevil 

 larvae, but on the- other hand, found many weevil larvae dead or 

 dying without any apparent cause. These observations indicate 

 the existence of a similar condition to that found in this parasite 

 of the wax moth. The killing of the host before ovipositing is a 

 decided advantage to such an ectoparasite since it insures the 

 safety of the eggs and larvas from injury due to movements of 

 the host within the cocoon. 



Dihrachys chlisiocampce and possibly others of the same 

 group apparently form the connecting link between the scav- 

 angers and the parasites since the larvas feed entirel}^ on dead 

 and decaying material killed by the parent. 



Since the dead larvas on which these parasites feed are in a 

 state of decomposition and continually changing chemically and 

 physically during the feeding period, it is possible that under the 



* Packard, 1909, A Text Book of Entomology, page 358. 



t Marcovitch, 1916, The Strawberry Weevil in Minnesota. Sixteenth Report 

 of the State Entomologist of Minnesota for 1915 and 1916, page 122. 



