PIMPLA CONQUISITOR. 199 



species from the female, under the name of pleurivinctus. The species 

 varies much in size, and Say happened to meet with a small female 

 and a large male, and, the face of the male being white, the mistake 

 was thus made.* 



The history of this species, and several published descriptions of it, 

 have already been given in the beginning of this subhead. Its habits 

 coincide with those laid down in the characterization of the family of 

 ichneumons. The yellow-banded ichneumon was bred extensively from 

 the chrysalides of the last brood of cotton- worms, and, so far as we are 

 aware, has never been bred from any preceding brood. Dr. Gorham 

 bred them from the chrysalides of the last brood only, as also did Messrs. 

 Glover and Jones. During the past summer we have bred in the depart- 

 ment nearly two thousand chrysalides from the Alabama cotton fields 

 and not one specimen of the yellow-banded ichneumon was seen, although 

 many other parasites were obtained, as will be shown hereafter. Dur- 

 ing the fall and winter of 1878 many specimens of conqulsitor were bred 

 from chrysalides of this last brood, and we are under the strong impres- 

 sion that none were bred from earlier broods, but this we are unable to 

 state positively, as the notes on this point are in the possession of Pro- 

 fessor Eiley. This, however, is all negative evidence, and although it 

 shows that the last brood is usually extensively parasitized by the yel- 

 low-banded ichneumon, it does not prove also that previous broods are 

 not affected to a small extent j and this is probably the case. We are, 

 as shown by the evidence adduced above, totally unable to say how 

 many broods of this parasite are produced in a year, as we only know of 

 the one bred from the last crop of cotton- worm chrysalides. 



white liiio before the wings j metathorax not distinctly punctured on the disk ; wings 

 very slightly tinged with dusky ; ncrvures blackish ; stigma rather large, with its 

 base and tip whitish ; second cubital cellule oblique ; tergum densely punctured on 

 every part ; segments on their posterior narrow margins white ; oviduct about half 

 the length of the abdomen ; feet honey-yellow ; intermediate and posterior tarsi 

 white, the joints black at their tips ; posterior tibia? black, white in the middle. 



Length one-fourth of an inch. . . 



* Say's description of pleurivinctus is as follows : 



C. pleurivinctus. Black ; segments of the tergum margined with white. 



Inhabits United States. 



Bodj r black ; thorax with a short line before the wings and wing-scale yellow ; wings 

 hyaline, with a slight dusky tinge ; nervures blackish ; stigma rufous at the stricture ; 

 second cubital cellule quadrangular, somewhat oblique, meeting the radial cellule in 

 an angle ; abdomen almost sessile ; tergum with the first segment excavated near the 

 base ; densely punctured ; all the segments with narrow white posterior margins ; 

 oviduct exserted, short, hardly half the length of the abdomen ; feet honey-yellow, 

 posterior pairs with the knees, tips of the tibiie, and each tarsal joint black. 



Length over half an inch. 

 $ Hind pair of feet with an annnlus on the tibiaj and base of each tarsal joint white. 



The male is much smaller than the female. I obtained a female from a follicle of 

 the common folliculate Linnean Bonibyx with transparent wings, which were extremely 

 abundant a few years since in Maryland, causing much apprehension for the safety of 

 the trees of their choice. Some of them were obtained for me by my friend Mr. Gil- 

 liams, for examination, Avhen I described them under the name of hyalina, but did not 

 publish the account. 



