SUMMARY. 211 



into an oval pad, curved inward, and beset on its outer edge with five or six barbed spines ; 

 thorax dark yellow, covered with small black hairs, which give it a slightly dusky 

 appearance ; a few long black spines are arranged around base of wings and sides 

 of the thorax ; abdomen dusky ; venter yellowish, dusky towards the end ; the 1st 

 segment dorsally has near its base a very narrow transverse black baud; the poste- 

 rior margin is yellow ; on the 2d segment is a very broad, nearly rectangular, trans- 

 verse black patch, which leaves only a narrow yellow margin posteriorly ; the 3d 

 and 4th have each a somewhat squarish black spot, reaching from front to hind mar- 

 gin, having its sides somewhat concave ; the spot on the 3d segment is nearly divided 

 from the front to its posterior margin by a triangular yellow center, which is broadest 

 in front ; the 4th has Only a very small triangular spot at its front margin ; (in the 

 darker specimens this black spot is surrounded by a narrow yellow line which is not 

 noticeable in the lighter ones) ; the 5th and 6th segments have each a somewhat 

 squarish, transverse, black spot, and both spots of these segments are divided only by 

 a very small, transverse, yellow spot ; there are a veiy few short hairs at the incisures 

 between the segments dorsally and ventrally ; the body is quite smooth when distended 

 with eggs, but soon after a few of the eggs are deposited becomes much wrinkled 

 longitudinally ; the ovipositor, when fully extended, is seen to be composed of 5 joints, 

 and is then about one-third the length of the abdomen ; joints 2 and 4 are quite hairy, 

 and also the small terminal joint ; joints 1 and 3 are smooth ; legs yellow, profusely 

 beset with quite long black hairs ; there are a few long spines around the apex of coxae 

 of all the legs ; the femora of all the legs, especially of the 3d pair, are very much 

 swollen at their middle ; the tibiae of the 2d pair of legs do not reach the base of 

 femora when folded, but those of the last pair are as long as the femora ; the tibiae 

 of 2d and 3d pair of legs are furnished at the front of their tips with three spurs, one 

 large and two small ones ; the large spur of the middle tibiae stands between the two 

 smaller ones, and the one of the last tibia? stands on the outside of the tip, just below 

 the outer small spur ; the large spur of middle legs is nearly twice as long as that of 

 the last tibiae ; the tarsal joints of front legs are without spurs, but those of the other 

 two pairs are furnished at their tips with two short spurs and are lined, besides these 

 terminal spurs, on their front sides, with two rows of similar spines or spurs; wings, 

 faintly yellowish, beset with extremely minute hairs; the costa is provided with a 

 double row of long and acute spines, and the remaining portion of the margin, except 

 a, short piece near the inner side of basis, with extremely minute cilia ; this basal por- 

 tion is furnished also with 7 or 8 spines similar to those of the costa ; rims, yellowish ; 

 halteres 3-jointed, the last joint oblong oval. 



Male: The male is about one-third the size of the female. There are scarcely any 

 distinguishable differences between it and the female, except that in the male the 

 dorsal portion of the abdomen is entirely blackish. 



From present indications, this insect bids fair to be one of the most 

 important, as it is one of the most interesting, of the parasites of the 

 cotton-worm. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF THE COTTON-WORM 

 SUMMARY. 



From a perusal of this chapter it is doubtful if the reader has obtained 

 a very definite idea of the actual amount of good performed by the nat- 

 ural enemies of the cotton-worm, except that it is by no means insignifi- 

 cant. It would, indeed, be a difficult task to estimate the number of 

 cotton-worms, in one stage or another, that are destroyed every year by 

 the different birds and insects ; but we will bring together in this sum- 

 mary such points as relate to the amount of good performed, hoping to 

 set the importance of the subject forth in a more definite light. 



