CEN I. TRÄGÅRDH. 
In the light of these records it is very remarkable that in Swe- 
den hitherto no Megastigomus has been bred from spruce-tree cones, 
either before my investigations or during the investigations of 
about 14,000 cones from different parts of Sweden. 
The part played by Megastigmus as a spruce-seed feeder in Central- 
Europe has in Sweden been taken by Zorymus azureus BEN (= T. chaly- 
baeus RaATz.). 
This would appear the more astonishing because no Zorymus was hitherto 
known to display phytophagous habits, the species of this genus being con- 
sidered to be parasites chiefly of gall-forming insects, were it not that in the 
closely related genus Megastigmus, on the other hand, species are known 
which are not seed-eaters, as the majority are, but parasites of gall-forming 
insects. 
From this it would appear that neither of these genera is strictly specialized 
to one kind of food. The fact that in Central Europe the spruce-tree seeds 
are attacked by Megastigmus, while in Sweden Megastigmus is replaced by a 
Torvmus, as well as the existence of two spruce-seed gall-midges, one in Southern, 
the other in Northern Europe, seems to suggest that the fauna of the spruce- 
seeds is essentially different in these parts of Europe. 
For the description of the adult, pupa and larva the reader is referred 
to figs 30-36. 
The mode of pupation of Torymus azureus seems to be the same as that of 
Perrisia strobi. "The larva leaves the seed and pupates in the base of one of 
the cone-scales, the burrows being easily distinguished from those of Perrisia 
through the absence of any white cocoons. At the hatching the pupa does 
not emerge half-way through an opening but remains in the burrow, the adult 
biting a circular hole through the wall. 
It must, however, be admitted that there is a possibility of the base of 
the scale not being the normal place for the pupation of Zorymus azureus 
the cones chosen for this investigation being old and to an almost incredible 
extent infested with both Perrisza and Zorymus, which mav account for the 
pupation of the latter taking place in the scales. : 
But, on the other hand, it would not be surprising, if the base of the 
scales were the normal place of pupation of 7Zorvmus also, that place offering 
the same advantages to Torymus as to Perrisia. 
Torymus azureus BAN is distributed all over the country (see map fig. 40). 
Åprostocetus strobilanae RATzZ., the parasite of Zorvmus azureus BN. 
The two sexes of this species were described as two different species by 
RATZEBURG, who called the male Genioceras erythrophthalmus and the female 
Eulophus strobilanae. This mistake has not hitherto been corrected, SCHMIE- 
DEKNECHT in his work in "Genera Insectorum ” referring the male to TZzefrasti- 
chus, whilst placing the female in Fniedon. 
This species has not, as was the case with Platvgaster contorticornis, been 
definitively proved to be the parasite of Zorymus azureus, only very strong 
circumstantial evidence existing, through the data gathered during the breeding 
of the insects, as will subsequently be shown. 
