66 PULVINAKIA V1TIS, VAR. 



and the matter must therefore stand over for future 

 investigation. 



Natural Enemies. When the colony under observa- 

 tion was first established, the insects were quite free 

 from internal parasites. But the second generation 

 became infested by chalcidid parasites, which increased 

 in the third generation to such an enormous extent 

 that quite 50 per cent, of the coccids were destroyed 

 by them. The few coccids which now remain (1902) 

 are apparently all parasitised, and it is very doubtful 

 if any of them will produce ova next season ; and, 

 moreover, if the few remaining coccids are not pro- 

 tected from the birds during the winter months, the 

 colony will be completely exterminated. 



On the 17th of October, 1901, after long and 

 careful watching, I observed, for the first time, one of 

 the chalcidid parasites in the act of laying its eggs in 

 the body of a coccid. When first seen the parasite was 

 running swiftly from place to place, evidently search- 

 ing for a suitable host ; its antennas were bent down- 

 wards almost at right angles to the long scape forming 

 their basal half, and were moved up and down rapidly 

 and alternately, the tips each time touching the path 

 of the insect as it progressed. Many coccids were 

 examined, and when a suitable one was found the 

 parasite turned its head towards the anterior extremity 

 of the coccid, and, resting with all its feet upon the 

 body of the latter, inserted its ovipositor into the centre 

 of the thoracic area ; it then slowly moved its abdomen 

 up and down, and apparently laid its eggs in the 

 puncture ; the parasite then withdrew its ovipositor, 

 and, turning round abruptly, feeling its way again with 

 its antennae, seized with its jaws the lips of the wound 

 made by its ovipositor, and distinctly closed them upon 

 it and apparently pressed the edges together ; finally, 

 it passed the palpi over the wound, and then left the 

 coccid to its fate. I subsequently saw the process of 

 ovipositing repeated by three different individuals, each 

 one acting precisely the same as the first. So far, I 



