62 
=: 
From material received from Mr. Willis, Olga, Wash., a number of 
parasites of /ehneumon capitus Cr. issued during the last days of 
August and first of September. As near as could be estimated, fully 
50 per cent of the pupe received from our correspondent in one lot 
were parasitized by this Ichneumon fly. 
Evidence was afforded March 2 that a common ground beetle, Scar- 
ites subterraneous Fab., preys upon the variegated cutworm. On that 
date a larva was found, under a board, that had evidently been killed 
by this insect, which was feeding upon it at the time of capture. All 
of the natural enemies of this cutworm which have been mentioned 
have come under observation during the season of 1900. 
In Dr. Fletcher’s article (loc. cit., pp. 225-227) two pages are 
devoted to the subject of parasites and predaceous enemies. At 
Victoria, British Columbia, three lots of larve were almost all 
destroyed by the maggots of a parasitic fly, Tachinid judging by the 
description. The presence of Tachina eggs on the heads of cutworms 
was reported at Salt Spring Island. <A large black fly, presumably 
an Ichneumonid, was observed at Vancouver. One parasite was iden- 
tified (Aleteorus vulgaris Cres.) from British Columbia. 
Two parasites identified as destroying this cutworm are placed on 
record by Messrs. Doane and Brodie (Bul. 47, Wash. Agl. Expt. Sta., 
1901, p. 10). They are /chneumon maurus Cr. and Meteorus indagator 
Riley. Three other species of Tachina flies are parasitic on the 
variegated cutworm. These are: Chetogedia monticola Bigot, Gonia 
capitata DeG., and Winthemia 4-pustulata Fab. The last mentioned 
has been figured in the paragraph on the natural enemies of the fall 
army worm. 
A very large proportion of the larvee received late in the season 
from the Pacific States died under conditions which would have been 
favorable to most caterpillars. It is not improbable that disease was 
present when the material was gathered, but of this we can not be cer- 
tain, since it is a matter that would have to be decided by residents or 
at least persons temporarily resident in the infested sections, as larvee 
confined in unnatural conditions for some time are apt to develop dis- 
eases Which might not have affected them in the field. Their decease 
was probably due to the same cause as that noticed by Doane and 
Brodie, and by Fletcher in British Columbia—i. e., to bacteriosis. 
According to Dr. Roland Thaxter, who examined material from the 
latter source, cutworms are subject to Hmpusa aulica, and that author- 
ity on fungous diseases expressed the opinion that, if careful investi- 
gation had been made during the invasion, this or some other species 
of Empusa would have been found destroying them. 
In British Columbia robins, crows, the blue jay, chickens, ducks, 
and pigs were reported to have been observed destroying this cutworm. 
In the State of Washington chickens, turkeys, guinea hens, and other 
poultry, as well as crows, did good work in repressing this species. 
