MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 299 
than the body, not cylindrical, slightly improssed ; clypous prominent ; eyes 
large, edged with short silvery hairs. Thorax: coarsely and closely punctured 
above ; the disc of mesonotum with three distinct paraspidal furrows which are 
more or less crenated; along the pleure on each side there are two rows of distinct 
shining black crenate fovez, one lateroventral row extending from the pro to 
the mesopleura, and the other latero-tranverse from below the tegule down- 
wards and backwards along the mesopleura : the space between these two rows 
is in some specimens smooth and shining black ; scutellum gently grooved ; 
post scutellum with distinct deep longitudinal striations ; median segment 
coarsely and deeply reticulate. Wings :—radius very faintly distinct ; the 2nd 
cubital small and triangular with the apex of the triangle rounded ; 3rd 
cubital faint, nervures hardly reaching apex of wing. Hind limbs comparatively 
longer, with the femora and tibiae somewhat incrassated ; the tibial spurs very 
short. Abdomen : subsessile, proximal portion somewhat narrow ; segments 
soft and shrunk in dead specimens, so that the boundaries of the first few 
segments are not clearly defined ; in shape, abdomen slightly impressed dorso- 
ventrally ; smooth and shining ; the tubercle on the first segments is seen as a 
small shining faint projection. In the female, terebra seen as a very small 
pointed piece at the penultimate ventral segment which is slightly conical. 
Length: 3 mm. ; wing expanse 7 mm. Cocoon 4 mm. long ; elongate oval, 
more or less cigar-shaped but with the poles bluntly rounded ; greyish brown, 
strongly felted, not fluted as in the case of many other species of the genus ; the 
adult emerges through one end by cutting off a circular lid. As mentioned above 
the parasite is solitary, only one cocoon being found attached to each caterpillar. 
The insect is a short, robust wasp, dark in colour with the portions of the abdo- 
men and thorax shining ; the distinct crenate foveze at the pleure, the small 
triangular 2nd cubital cell of the wing, and the nitid yellowish colour of the base 
of the abdomen*are features which easily distinguish this insect. Lefroy makes 
mention of this parasite in his monograph on the castor semilooper, (Memoirs of 
the Department of Agriculture Vol. II, p. 73) but without any name, and a 
figure of it appears on plate VII (fig. 7) of the monograph. 
The’ great majority of the species of Microplitis recorded till now are 
European and N. American, and none has been recorded from the Indian region ; 
but it is not unlikely that more species of this interesting genus will be found in 
different parts of India. 
I believe it may not be out of place in this connection to add a note regarding 
other parasitic wasps that have been recorded from India, as having been reared 
out of this caterpillar so far. At the time Lefroy wrote his paper apparently 
this was the only parasitic wasp reared on this caterpillar. The following have 
since been found :— 
Paniscus lineatus, Br.—Ichneumonid—reared on the castor semilooper at 
Coimbatore by myself. , 
Microtoridea lissonota, Vier.*—Ichneumonid—reared on castor semilooper in 
Mysore by Dr. Coleman. 
Zamesochorus orientalis, Vier.*—Ichneumonid—reared on castor semilooper in 
Mysore by Dr. Coleman. 
Tetrastichus opiuse, Craw.*—Eulophidce—reared on castor semilooper in 
Mysore by Dr. Coleman. 
I am inclined to think that one or two of these might be hyperparasites on 
Microplitis especially Zamesochorus ; for, there are records of species of Meso- 
chorus (a closely allied genus) noted as hyperparasites on species of Microplitis 
in Europe and America, This might be verified in course of time when further 
observations are made of the castor caterpillar and its natural enemies. In page 
8 of Pusa Bulletin 89 on ‘‘ Second Hundred notes on Indian Insects *? Mr. .Dutt 
has recorded an Ichneumon parasite Hdrisa pilicornis Cam., which has been 
* See Proceedings of U. S. National Museum. Vol. XLIT. 
