Nov. 4, 1923 GAHAN: CHALCIDOID PARASITE 411 
Type locality—Hyeres, France. 
Type—Cat. No. 26537 U.S. N. M. 
Host—Phytonomus posticus Gyll. 
Described from twenty-eight females and forty-two males received from 
G. I. Reeves of the Bureau of Entomology Laboratory at Salt Lake City, 
Utah, under Salt Lake Station No. 2745, and reared from material collected 
at Hyeres, France, by T. R. Chamberlain. Specimens of the species are in 
the collection of the National Museum also from Milazzo, Sicily. 
The species is one of those which the Bureau of Entomology is attempting 
to introduce into the western states to combat the alfalfa weevil. The female 
is figured in Bureau of Entomology Bulletin 112, p. 35, Fig. 16, where it is 
referred to as a Pteromalid egg-parasite of the alfalfa weevil. This figure is 
acceptable, except in one respect, i.e. the parapsidal grooves are not nearly 
so well defined as illustrated being traceable on the posterior half of the 
mesoscutum as very faint lines only. 
The larva is said to feed externally on the egg masses of Phytonomus 
posticus. 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED 
SOCIETIES 
THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY 
164TH MEETING 
The 164th meeting of the Botanical Society was held at. the Cosmos Club, 
Jan. 2, 1923, at 8 p.m., with Dr. L. C. Corsert in the chair, and 66 persons 
present. 
Brief notes and reviews of literature: 
Dr. A. 8. Hrrcucock stated that the subject of the National Botanic Garden 
had been discussed by the Botanical Society of America at the Boston meet- 
ing, and that $50.00 had been appropriated to defray expenses of distributing 
the circular and map of the proposed Garden to members of the Society. 
The appointment of a member residing in Washington, to act jointly with 
other societies in the matter, was also authorized. 
Program: H. C. Skrets: An early-fruiting strain of the chayote, Chayota 
edulis Jacg. (Illustrated.) 
The chayote is a perennial cucurbitaceous vine found from Mexico to 
Brazil and in the West Indies. The flowers are of two kinds; the pistillate 
are usually solitary on short peduncles in the axils of the leaves, while the 
staminate are scattered in sessile clusters on separate inflorescences often a 
foot long. When both kinds appear at the same node the pistillate flower is 
open to receive pollen while the staminate inflorescence is still but an inch 
or two long. By the time this inflorescence bears the first staminate flower 
ready to shed pollen the pistillate flower has formed a fruit about two 
inches long. 
The chayote fruit is a small solid squash about six inches long, shaped like 
a pear flattened sideways, or in some varieties nearly spherical, and varying in 
color from dark green to nearly white. It contains one large flat seed which 
often starts to sprout before the fruit falls from the vine, but which remains 
inside the fruit, only the tips of the cotyledons protruding half an inch from 
the large end and the plumule and radicle developing from between these tips. 
