24 ERIOPELTIS FESTUCJE. 



The female invariably fixes lierself liead downwards, 

 and usually quite close to the axil of a leaf of the 

 food-plant, and after parturition falls to the ground 

 and perishes. The females are subject to the attacks 

 of a hymenopterous parasite (Encyrtus festucse), which 

 often stunt the growth of the Coccid and prevent the 

 completion of the ovisac ; and I have also known the 

 larvas of this parasite to completely destroy the body 

 of the Coccid, and afterwards feed upon the eggs within 

 the ovisac. Usually these parasites complete their 

 metamorphoses within the body of the host. 



Distribution. Recorded from several parts of 

 Europe, both north and south, Dr. Renter having 

 recently sent to me specimens which he obtained so far 

 north as Abo, Finland. In 1889 Prof. A. H. Mackay 

 found large numbers on grass in Cumberland Co., Nova 

 Scotia, and later Dr. James Fletcher " found it in the 

 woods on Carex pedunculate, at Ottawa."* The follow- 

 ing interesting account by Dr. Fletcher is taken from 

 the ' Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada ' 

 (sect, iv, 1899, p. 216, fig. 8). He says that the 

 cottony grass scale (Eriopeltis fes tiicae, Fonsc.) "has 

 occasionally done harm to pastures and meadows in 

 Nova Scotia. It was first sent in by Prof. A. H. 

 Mackay, who stated that it occurred in large numbers 

 over an extensive marshy flat in Cumberland Co., 

 N.S., every blade of grass having one or more egg-sacs 

 attached. The young insects hatch in spring, and feed 

 on the leaves and stems of grasses, the females becom- 

 ing full grown in July, and soon after the middle of 

 the month laying their eggs in conspicuous elongated 

 oval sacs of closely felted, white, downy threads. As 

 the eggs do not hatch till the following spring after 

 they are laid, burning over the 6 old fog ' or dead 

 grass, either late in the autumn or before growth begins 

 in the spring, is an easy means of preventing the 

 increase of this insect." Mr. King (1. c.) brackets 

 this species as introduced, and adds, "It was cited as a 



* King-, 'Canadian Ent./ ?vol. xxxiii, p. 315. 



