AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMTS INPELIX. 233 



tlio tip. The Encyvtincp come under this family and are distinguished from the Aphelinin<s 

 by the fact that the antennae are more than eioht-jointed. It is jierhaps best to quote 

 the more detailed diagnosis of the distinguishing characters of the Encyrtince as given in 

 Comstock's report : 



" Subfamily Encyrtince. — Tarsi five-jointed ; middle tibifie somewhat dilated towards 

 the tip, and furnished with a long stout spur; antennae more than 8- usually 11- or 10- 

 jointed. Parapsides of the mcsoscutum not separated by furrows ; mesothorax prominent, 

 broad in the middle ; vertex with an acute occipital margin ; abdomen usuall}' short and 

 sessile. The members of this tribe are small active Chalcids, which, while by no means 

 confined to Coccids as hosts, still are much more often parasitic on insects of this family 

 than upon those of any other. Dr. Mayr (42), in his paper upon the European Encyrtina;, 

 tabulates the species according to their hosts, and we may briefly condense by saying 

 that one species is parasitic upon an Ilymenopterous insect, two upon Coleoptera, four 

 upon Lepidoj)terous eggs, sixteen upon Lepidopterous larvtt>, four upon Diptera, while 

 forty species are parasitic upon Hemiptera, of which thirty-nine infest bark-lice, the 

 remaining one being found upon two species of Aphides. Ratzeburg (46) mentioned 

 two species of Encyrtince parasitic upon Hyraenoptera, four on Coleoptera, four on 

 Diptera, twelve upon Lepidoptera, and no less than twenty-five upon Hemiptera. Even 

 these facts, however, cannot be taken as fairly indicating the proportion of these insects 

 which are parasitic upon the Coccidie, since the latter family has heretofore been so little 

 studied in comparison with other groups, that doubtless many of its parasites have never 

 l)een reared. When as much biological work shall have been done upon it as, for 

 instance, upon any one of the families of Lepidoptera, we may expect to find that the 

 j)roportion of Encyrtince parasitic upon insects of other families will become dwarfed by 

 comparison." 



"Genus Coinys, Eorster (19,20,21). — Antenna3 rather long, eleven-jointed; funicle 

 six-jointed ; pedicel slightly shorter than the succeeding joints, from joint three the 

 joints of the flagellum gradually decrease in lengtli, with the female they become more 

 and more compressed towards the tip of the club, with the male i*emaining subcylindrical. 

 Head and face coarsely punctured. Mesoscutum without silvery white hair. Scutellum 

 three-cornered, with a somewhat rounded tip, near which is a tuft of erect, long, stiff 

 dark hairs. Ovipositor entirely, or almost entirely, hidden. Fore wings brownish on 

 the distal half, tlie nearly clear basal half having a brownish cross streak ; marginal 

 vein shorter than stigmal; post-marginal and stigraal long. Males very similar to 

 females, antennal characters giving the only absolute distinction; wings sometimes clear, 

 and sometimes brownish as with females." 



(b) Mode of Occurrence, S,'c. — Comys infeliv was first noticed in August, 1901, on an 

 Asplenmm fern parasitized by i^'Cffw/MW hemisplurricum * \-dv.JiliciiiJi, and by CJiionaspis 

 aspidistrcs, Signoret. I observed that Comys iiifdiv emerged from the Lecanimn, with 



* I notice that some of tbe most recent writers (in 1!)02) have called this Coccid Saissetia hemisphtericci. 1 have 

 not been able to discover why this alteration has been effected, if it is so, for the name Saissella was used iu llollusca 

 ill I'JOO, and is therefore preoccupied. 



32* 



