139 



Usually the fruit in which it resides drops to the ground before 

 maturity, but the cherry appears to be an exception to this rule. 



Natural Enemies. — Unfortunately for our horticulturists this 

 troublesome species appears to be subject to but few parasites or insect 

 foes. Some years ago a small four-winged fly, belonging to the great 

 ichneumon family, was ascertained by Dr. Fitch to be a true parasite 

 upon the larva. This little fly, which he named Sigulphus Ourculionis, 

 is described as follows: 



"Head black, sub-polished and sparsely covered on the face with 

 short, whitish hairs; ocelli touching each other; labrum and jaws 

 brown; palpi pale yellow; antennas twenty-seven-jointed, filiform 

 reaching, when turned back, to middle joint of abdomen or beyond, 

 the bulbus and small second joint rufous and glabrous, the rest dark 

 or dark brown, though 3-10 in many specimens are more or less tinged 

 with rufous; 3-14 very gradually diminishing in size; 14-27 sub-equal. 

 Thorax black, polished, the metathorax distinctly and broadly punc- 

 tate and the rest more or less distinctly punctate or rugose, with 

 the sides sparsely pubescent. Abdomen pitchy black, flattened, the 

 dorsum convex, separated, and of about equal length, the first 

 joint having two dorsal longitudinal carinas down the middle, all 

 densely marked with very fine longitudinally impressed lines and 

 sparsely pubescent; ovipositor longer than abdomen, but when 

 stretched in a line with it projecting backwards about the same 

 length beyond ; rufous, with the sheaths black. Legs pale rufous, 

 with the upper part of hind tibia? and tarsi, and sometimes the hind 

 femora, dusky. Length of female 0.15-0.16 inch, expanse 0.30; 

 the male differs only in his somewhat smaller size and in lacking 

 the ovipositor. In many specimens the mesothorax and the eyes are 

 more or less distinctly rufous." 



Subsequently another parasite belonging to the same family of 

 four-winged flies, was discovered by Dr. Trimble, and described by 

 Prof. Riley under the name Porizon conotracheli, as follows : 



Head pitchy black, opaque, with the ocelli triangularly placed and 

 close together ; eyes oval, polished and black ; face covered with sil- 

 very-white pubescence; labrum rufous, with yellowish hairs; mandi- 

 bles and palpi pale yellowish-brown. Antennas inserted in depres- 

 sions between the eyes, reaching to metathorax when turned back, 

 filiform, 24-jointed ; black, with basal joints, 6-1 becoming more and 

 more rufous, the bulbus always distinctly rufous ; bulbus rather longer 

 and twice as thick as joint 3 ; joint 2 about one-third as long. Thorax 

 pitchy black, opaque, the sides slightly pubescent with whitish hairs ; 

 the mesothorax rounded and bulging anteriorly, the scutellum 

 slightly excavated and sharply defined by a carina each side; meta- 

 thorax with the elevated lines well defined and running parallel and 

 close together from scutellum to about one-fourth their length, then 

 suddenly diverging and each forking about the middle. Abdomen 

 glabrous, polished, very slender at the base, gradually broader and 

 much compressed from" the sides at the apex, which is truncated ; 

 peduncle uniform in diameter and as long as joints 2 and 3 together ; 

 joints 2 and 5 sub-equal in length ; color rufous, with the peduncle 

 wholly ; dorsum of joint 2 a lateral shade on joint 3, and more or less 

 of the two apical joints superiorly, especially at their anterior edges, 

 black; venter more yellowish ; ovipositor about as long as abdomen, 



