I'Ai: \SITKS UK SI'IDKKS AND Til KM: I .").". 



I here refer to another figured body parasite, which was overlooked 



when preparing the material on |iarasilic enemies for Vol. II. Mr. L. < >. 



Howard, of the Entomological I )e|>art nienl of the Bureau of Ag- 



The Die- r i cul lture, Washington, lias described and figured 1 I'ol vspliiiida 

 tyna Par- .. , 



., oictynee and its parasitic larva reeding upon Linypnia (oiiiinnins. 



(Figs. II and |.">. ) The lly was raised from a larva found on a 

 young IMclyna volupis Keyserling. When taken, May l~>th (1.SS7), the larva 

 was ahont half as long as the spider's alidoinen and about one-fourth as 

 thick. It was attached by the, mouth to the front of the abdomen. May 

 18th the host was dead and the larva full grown, larger than the spider 

 had been, and had begun to spin a cocoon. May 25th it changed to a 

 pupa, and the ily came out June 1st following. The adult parasite is a 

 beautiful little male two and five-tenths millimetres long. The sketch, 

 as copied from " Insect 

 Life," shows the posi- 

 tion which the para- 

 sitic larva assumed on 

 the spider. In the col- 

 lection in which the 

 above species was tak- 

 en Mr. Howard found 

 five other small spiders, 

 four of which support- FIG. 44. Km. 45. 



6(1 parasitic lai'Vte upon fin. 41. Polysphincta dictynse much enlarged. Fi. 45. Larval parusite 



on young spider, Dietyna volupis. (After Howard.) 



the dorsum or the ab- 

 domen, and one delicate cocoon from which a parasitic larva had been 

 taken. 



In the same journal 2 Mr. Howard reported another species of Poly- 

 sphincta found by Dr. W. H. Fox, of Washington, D. C., upon a young 

 specimen of Steatoda borealis. The larva was slender, cylindrical, white, 

 one millimetre long, apparently less than half grown, and was attached to 

 its host substantially as above described. It was taken in February, which 

 would indicate a larval hibernation of the parasite. 



Mr. Howard has described still another species of Polysphincta, P. 



strigis, whose habits were quite fully observed. Mr. Nathan Banks found 



the larva of this species feeding externally upon Epeira strix, at 



Parasite g ea cliff; Loug i s \ &n ^ May llth, 1891. At the time of capture 



>a the parasitic larva was considerably larger than the spider; it 



spun up May 14th. When brought to Mr. Howard (May isth) 



the cocoon was completed in the vial in which Mr. Banks had placed the 



specimen ; it was spun of dense yellow brown silk, was six millimetres long, 



cylindrical, two millimetres in diameter and rounded at both ends. It 



1 Insect Life, Vol. I., page 106. 2 Insect Life, Vol. I., pHj-e -I-'. 



