Vol. XXX] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 255 



winter months took no food at all. They spent most of their 

 time in the soil, seldom being seen on top. 



March 30th a piece of liver was placed in the jar and a few 

 hours later one of the beetles was found clinging to it, this 

 being the first evidence of their eating anything since Novem- 

 ber. During April these insects died, thus closing our investi- 

 gations. 



[Blatchley, in his Coleoptera of Indiana, p. 276, has figured the vari- 

 ous stages of Silpha inaequalis after Riley. — Ed.] 



On the Hymenopterous Parasites of Kermes 



(Homop,, Coccidae). 



By L. O. Howard, Washington, D. C. 



In the very interesting article in Entomological Nezi's for 

 April, 1919, on "Euclemensia bassettella (Clemens) , the Kennes 

 Parasite," by A. H. Hollinger and H. B. Parks, the authors 

 have brought together much important material concerning 

 this unusual parasitic Lepidopteron. In the course of this 

 article, the writers state that they have never reared any 

 Hymenoptera from Kermes, either in Missouri or Texas. 



From the context, however, they apparently have not studied 

 the subject for a very considerable length of time, and I feel 

 reasonably sure that Hymenopterous parasites of Kermes will 

 be found sooner or later in both Missouri and Texas, just as 

 they have been found in so many other parts of the world. A 

 good many years ago (in 1890) I found Kermes at Ithaca, 

 New York, infested both by this Lepidopterous parasite and 

 by a Hymenopterous parasite which I subsequently described 

 as Aphycus pulchelliis (afterwards placed by Timberlake in 

 his genus Aenasioidea) . 



I have taken the trouble to go through the records and to 

 examine the bred specimens in the notes and collections of the 

 Bureau of Entomology and the National Museum, and submit 

 the following list of Hymenopterous parasites of Kermes, both 

 from these sources and from the literature. There can be no 

 doubt that the hosts in the cases of the American rearings 



