BIOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE PARASITES. 41 
with no success. Much has been written upon this mite by Professor 
Herrera and his staff. 
14. There are, however, native mites, including T'yroglyphus 
breviceps Banks (Banks, 1906, p. 17), which in some cases are a con- 
siderable factor in the destruction of the immature weevils. At 
Calvert, Tex., in moist fallen squares collected September 13, 11 out 
of 18 cases of parasitism were mites. 7. breviceps was described from 
Victoria. 
15. Hydnocera pubescens Lec. This clerid was found to be pre- 
daceous in its larval stage upon the boll weevil and all of its parasites. 
The egg is probably inserted into the cell of the weevil, and the 
young predator immediately starts its attack, consuming whatever 
it finds in the way of insects, and finally spins a loosely meshed, 
single-layer, silken cocoon, and pupates therein. From data of mate- 
rial collected at Waco, Tex., August 28, an approximation of the 
developmental periods was obtained. The longest period from col- 
lection to spinning was 34 days, the period in the cocoon was 12 
days, the adult being formed 3 days before leaving the cocoon. In 
order to prove the predaceous habit live weevil pupze were fur- 
nished individual clerid larve, and in most cases were completely 
consumed. In several cases large larve were found in Bracon 
cocoons which were punctured with holes large enough only for the 
‘very smallest of the larve. 
16. In a number of cases, material collected at Victoria, Dallas, 
and Brownsville gave evidence of a predaceous attack upon weevil 
stages by Cathartus cassix Reiche. 
IV. THe SoOuRCES OF THE PARASITES. 
In the preceding sections it has been pointed out that the para- 
sites of Anthonomus grandis are also common to various other spe- 
cies of weevils. There is a more or less clearly defined theory in 
parasitology that the parasites of a particular genus or tribe are con- 
fined to the insects of a particular family or order. With this idea 
in mind a list of the known parasites of the Rhynchophora has been 
compiled, in order to show the characteristic groups and the possible 
sources of boll-weevil parasites. 
PARASITES KNOWN TO ATTACK RHYNCHOPHORA. 
Parasite. Host. 
Fungi. 
PAS PORGMULUs Spm te ee nas, Soe 2S Se bs Anthonomus grandis Boh. 
COnincepaspe aston foo 28 oo ve ocd Anthonomus grandis Boh. 
Empusa (Entomophthora) sphxrosperma..Phytonomus punctatus Fab. 
Entomophthora phytonomi...........---- Phytonomus punctatus Fab. 
Sporotrichum globuliferum ......---.----- Epicxrus imbricatus Say. 
