■20 Chalcid Parasites. 



respectively : while the others are members of the Ohalcid- 

 Idse. The first, second and fifth are known from Queens- 

 land, the second, third, fonrth, and perhaps also the first, 

 from New South Wales. 



(1) Spakmgia muscidarum Richardson 

 (Text-figures 1-7). 

 Dming November and December, 1919, when numbers 

 of Musca domestica L.. M. fergusoni Johnston and Bancroft, 

 M. vetitstissima Walker, and M. terrceregime Johnston and 

 Bancroft* were l)eing raised in the laboratory- at Eidsvold, 

 Burnett River. Queensland, in connection with our work 

 on flies as transmitters of worm parasites of stock, it was 

 noticed that in several batches the percentage of flies emerg- 

 ing was ver}' low, viz., from 15% to 61%. Thus in one 

 experiment with house flies the larvae pupated on November 

 21st and a few flies emerged on November 29th and 30th. 

 No more having emerged after the lapse of over a week, 

 the pupse were collected and counted j when it was foimd 

 that flies had emerged from onl}- 15 per cent, of them. 

 The remaining pupse were placed in tubes. On December 

 15th several small black chalcids averaging about 3 mm. 

 in length were noticed, more emerging diu"ing the succeed- 

 ing days. As the}- appeared, the little insects were trans- 

 ferred to a large jar the end of which was covered ^vith 

 a piece of cloth, and were fed by smearing honey and water 

 on the cloth. Copulation was observed to occur* at once 

 and females readily attacked fresh fly pupae on the day of 

 emergence. 



When about to oviposit, the female walks over the 

 pupse testing the s\u*face with her long flexible antennae. 

 A suitable place having been found, the sharp piercing 

 stylet connected with the ovipositor is brought into play 

 and a tiny hole bored in the chitin of the puparium. A 

 few minutes is usually sufficient to effect a puncture, the 

 stylet being thrust for its whole length into the wound. 



The eggs are minute oval structures measuring from 

 0.4 to 0.45 mm. in length by 0.1 mm. in breadth. The 

 shell is minutely papillose except at one end which is drawn 



*If Townsend's genera be accepted, then these flies are respectively 

 .Promusca domestica, V iviparomusca fergusoni, Eumusca vetustissima and 

 Promusca terrceregin(B. 



