BENEPIOIAL INSECTS. 



THE UNADORNED TIPHIA, or WHITE GRUB PARASITE— 



TipJiia inovnata Say. 



(Ord. Hymexoptera ; Fani. Scoliid.e.) 



Many animals, as the badger, weasel, skunk, marten ; some birds, 

 as the crow; and some predacious insects, as tbe different Ground- 

 beetles {CarahidcB), and perhaps the larvas of some Breeze-flies {Ta- 

 hanidce) attack and devour the common White Grub (^Laclmo sterna 

 guercina^ Knoch). But, so far^ no true parasite of its own class has 

 been known to prey upon it, though it is at times extensively de- 

 [iig.34.] stroyed by a parasitic cryptogamic 



plant {Torruhia miUtavis,'^ Tul. Fig. 

 35.) 



I wish to call attention, however, 

 to an insect which I have named the 

 " White Grub Parasite," and which 

 TiPHiA ixoRXATA:-ffi, perfect fly, female; 6, en- Well deserves the title, as it kills and 



larged head of lana; c, larva, ventral view; -1 . , „ ,, ,, 



rf, cocoou cut open. Qevours great numbers of the well- 



known scourge of our pastures and meadows. 



One can scarcely dig for half an hour in any soil in this part of 

 the country, without meeting with a curious egg-shaped cocoon (Fig. 

 34, d), of a pale golden-brown or buff color, and with a soft exterior 

 surface, in touch as well as in color, reminding one of the punk used 

 by dentists. Upon cutting this cocoon open, it will be found to con- 

 sist of about a dozen delicate layers, the outer ones soft and loosely 

 spun, the inner ones more> and more compact and paler in color. 

 Within this cocoon, if fresh, there will be found a whitish grub (Fig. 

 34, c) which, though lacking legs has the joints of the body, at the 

 sides, swollen so as to look like the fleshy pseudopods possessed by 

 many larv^. The pupa I have not yet had an opportunity of figuring 



* Mr. W. R. Gerard, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. , is inclined to think, fnini dried specimens I sent him, 

 that it may he the cinerea Tulasne. 



