CHARLES W. HOOKER. 17 



Fyles, Twenty-fifth Rept. Ent. Soc. Ont., p. 55, fig. 38 1894. 



Packard, Textbook of Ent., p. 517, figs. 488, 498 1898. 



Morley, British Ichneumons, I, pp. 21-50 1903. 



Felt, N. Y. State Mus., Bull. 76 (nineteenth Rept. State Ent.), 



pp. 97-125 1904. 



Hitchings, Third Ann. Rept. State Ent. Maine for 1907, p. 12 1908. 



Fiske and Thompson, Journ. Econ. Ent., II, pp. 450-460 1909. 



Economic Importance. 

 The members of this tribe so far as known are beneficial 

 parasites. Among them are some of our larger and more 

 common parasites, to which much credit is due for controlling 

 a number of insect pests. Most of the species attack lepi- 

 dopterous larvae, including the army worm, cotton worm, 

 zebra caterpillar, the large cecropia larvae, etc. Ophioii 

 bifoveolatus, however, apparently confines itself to white 

 grubs, the larvfe of Lachnosterna.* The host list of this 

 tribe is very incomplete, especially for the tropical species, 

 but the abundance of many of these indicates that they are im- 

 portant for they cause the death of the host always. Ophioyi 

 luteus, a European form, has a host list of over thirty species, 

 and some of the American members of the tribe may prove 

 to have as many. Experiments at Cornell University show 

 that several species, at least, are attracted to lights in large 

 numbers, a fact which must greatly diminish the value of the 

 trap lantern as a means for destroying insect pests, unless, 

 as in the case with some moths, the female ophionines 

 deposit most of their eggs before they will come to light. 



Disease. 

 Mr. Bitterman, of Nuecestown, Texas, states that he " was 

 stung on the neck by a specimen of Paniscus geminatus which 

 had been attracted to a lamp. Serious inflammation soon 

 resulted, which in a few days developed into a swelling. 

 The swelling increased in size until it became a bag six or 

 eight inches long, and the difficulty did not disappear for 

 over six months, at one time seeming to threaten fatal re- 

 sults." In discussing this Dr. Ashmead states the he '' has 

 been stung by species of Ophioninae several times, and be- 



* Ophion sp. is mentioned by Webster as a possible parasite of a 

 sawfly {Nematus sp.). 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXXVIII. (3) 



