103 



and 2)lact'd with the Sclerodernitts in clean, fresh tubes. By 

 Oct. 13 tv.-enty of the fifty maggots had pupated and the re- 

 main ing Jarvae were more or less collapsed and dried up with- 

 out any positive indication of their having been fed upon by 

 the Sclcn)dernw.s. When some of the puparia were opened up 

 the ^clevodcrnvus female at once attacked them and fed upon 

 the ])upa freely and in one instance a Srlcrodermus was seen 

 gnawing away around the anal pit (»f the SairopJiar/a pu- 

 ])ai'iiim in the effort to enter. 



The kinds of prey actually knoAvn to be utilized in the 

 field are the Bruchid, the two Bostrychids, and the Cerambycid 

 larvae excepting the Xystrocera. It is evident that several 

 things tend to limit them in actual practise: (1) The adult 

 Sclerodevml like to frequent dead and seasoning or rotten 

 wood and practically confine their visits there. The pods of 

 Acacia faiiiesiana in which Caryohorus was found attacked is 

 only an apparent exception. In its properties it is near enough 

 like the wood and is found attached to the bushes. (2) Other- 

 Avise available prey may be able to destroy the females. (3) 

 Some of the prey may not keep in condition for larval food 

 long enough for them to reach full growth. (4) The termites 

 and ants would not usually be attacked because entrance to the 

 nests would be successfully resisted. 



Prey of the Endemic Species. The endemic species of 

 Sclerodermus have until 1919 always been found in associa- 

 tion with wood-boring larvae of moths related to Hyposmo- 

 como, Semnoprepia, and Hyperdasys, but in August, 1919, 

 Mr. Swezey secured material of S. muin Bridwell from Kona, 

 Hawaii, above Kealakekua in wood of Straussla,- where it was 

 taken from the borings of an Anobiid beetle upon the larvae 

 (•f which they had evidently bred. The mate.rial consisted of 

 two masses of cocoons of three and five from which three and 

 four apterous females emerged respectively. Eepeated ex- 

 amination of material in the mountains near Honolulu has 

 disclosed but little indication of use by any of the endemic 

 species of Coleopterous larvae but S. poecilodes Perkins was 



