U. S. D. A., B. E. Tech. Ser. 10, Pt. I. Issued .lanuaryis, 1910. 



TECHNICAL RESULTS FROM THE GIPSY MOTH PARASITE LABORATORY. 



On Some Parasites Reared or Supposed to have been Reared from the 

 Eggs of the Gipsy Moth. 



By L. O. Howard, Ph. D. 

 INTRODUCTORY. 



No native American egg-parasites have ever been reared from 

 the eggs of the gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar L.) since its introduc- 

 tion into this country in the late sixties. This seems strange, since 

 native Lepidopterous eggs are very frequently attacked by egg- 

 parasites of several genera, notably by Trichogramma and Telenomus, 

 as well as occasionally by Anastatus and Ooencyrtus. Nonparasi- 

 tism of dispar by native species is probably due to the character of 

 its egg-mass, which is so compact and so thoroughly protected by 

 the scales of the parent as possibly to disguise its character from 

 species unacquainted with it for many generations, while actual 

 experiments with TrichogramTna seem to show that it is unable to 

 pierce the shell of the gipsy moth egg. 



In the course of the extensive importations of parasites of this 

 species from Europe and Japan, however, carried on cooperatively 

 by the State of Massachusetts and the Bureau of Entomology of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, several primary and secondary 

 parasites have been reared from these eggs at the Gipsy Moth Para- 

 site Laboratory at Melrose Highlands, Mass., where they have 

 been studied in greater or less numbers by Mr. W. F. Fiske, of the 

 Bureau of Entomology, in charge of the laboratory, and by the 

 corps of assistants working under his direction, and have in some 

 cases been colonized in the open. In the following pages descrip- 

 tions are given of the new forms, together with brief notes concerning 

 their habits, the notes being the result of the observations of Mr. 

 Fiske and assistants. Only two of the species, namely, Anastatus 

 hifasciatus Fonsc. and Schedius Icuvanse How., appear to be of 

 primary importance, but it is obvious that once acclimatized these 

 two species will perform a very considerable part in the reduction 

 in numbers of the gipsy moth in the United States. 



The parasites so far reared have all come from Japan, southern 

 Russia, and Hungary. The Anastatus has a wider range, occurring 



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