102 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



V. T. Chambers, of Coviiigtou, Ky., numerous 

 specimens of the hitherto uudescribecl beautiful 

 large Chalcis fly flgured herewith (Fig 66), 



[Fig. 06.] 



Colors— Black and yellow . 



which he had taken from the cocoon of the 

 Polyphemus moth, -which is quite common, and 

 issues as early as the middle of Februaiy in 

 that locality. He says, "I was satisfied that 

 the cocoon did not contain a living Polyphemus 

 and therefore opened it. It contained so little 

 besides these insects and their exuviae, as to 

 suggest strongly the old idea that the caterpillar 

 had been metamorphosed into them (as in a 

 sense it had) . There were 47 of them, of which 

 23 were females. As all the males, and some 

 of the females were dead when I opened the 

 cocoon, I think it likely that the former never 

 do emerge, and perhaps but few of the latter; 

 otherwise Polyphemus would soon be exter- 

 minated." 



We can very well imagine that most of these 

 Chalcis flies would die in their efibrts to escape 

 from the tough cocoon of the Polyphemus, but 

 it so happens that these same parasites have 

 been found by Mrs. Mary Treat, of Vineland, 



connected by a transverse line which sejjarates the prothorax 

 from mesothorax, the middle line straight, the outer ones 

 deeply impressed, approaching behind and connected on the 

 posterior margin by a short transverse line, and then sud- 

 denly diverging on lateral suture of scutellum ; a longitudinal 

 black dot on each side over tegulie; scutellum edged ante- 

 riorly with black and with a central longitudinal black line ; 

 basal margin of metathorax, with a spot on each extreme side 

 and a large subtriangular mark on disk, black; pleura; with 

 two black lines on each side._ Wings hyaline. Abdomen 

 yellow with sometimes a faint tinge of green, black at base 

 and tip, and each segment banded with black superiorly; 

 petiole yellow, black at tip above. Legs yellow, the tarsi 

 inclining to fulvous; abroad line on posterior coxaj above, 

 and interior edge of femora and of tibiffi, and tip of femora, 

 lilack; the femora about as large as abdomen with over 12 

 minute black spines on inferior edge. Average length 0.20 

 inch. 



(^ differs in the less pointed abdomen, and somewhat 

 longer petiole, in the scape of antennie not being blaclc 

 superiorly and being much more robust; in the flagellum 

 being of the same color as scape, and in the coxm having a 

 black line boTh above and beneath. Average length 0.15. 

 Described from lOcJ i $ bred from Attacus pohjphemusjiiiA 

 2 (f" 1 S bred from A. promethca. Variable in size, some 

 cjd" being much larger than some $ $ . 



Say's amana, bred from a Thecla, in which no sexual 

 difference is mentioned, somewhat resembles the $ of this 

 species, but differs from it principally in having the thorax 

 quadrilinear with black, the petiole black, the pleura black, 

 with four yellow spots, and in the thiglis having six or 

 eight prominent spines, the superior one divided into three 

 or fonr. 



New Jersey, to prey upon the Cecropia worm, 

 from the cocoon of which they can much more 

 easil}'^ escape. "We take pleasure, therefore, in 

 naming this pretty Chalcis fly in honor of that 

 lady. The same fly also attacks the Promethea 

 worm — another of our large native Silk-worms 

 — and Mrs. Treat has had a similar experience 

 with Mr. Chambers, of finding them dead in 

 its cocoon. She has upon two occasions found 

 cocoons with a dead Chalcis fly fast In the hole 

 which it had eaten to make its escape; and 

 upon cutting open such cocoons they were found 

 literally packed with dead Chalcis flies. It 

 would seem that they all make their escape 

 through the hole made by some one of their 

 number, and that if this particular one fails 

 in the undertaking, they all perish rather than 

 make holes for themselves. 



The Divorced Cryptus — {Cryptus nuncius, 

 Say; extrematis, Cresson). — ^Another Ichneu- 

 mon fly infests the Cecropia worm in great 

 numbers, filling its cocoon so full of their own 

 thin parchment-like cocoons, that a transverse 

 section (Fig. 67) bears considerable resemblance 

 [Fig. 07.] to a honey-comb. The flies 



issue in June, and the sexes v" 

 differ sufficiently to have 

 given rise to two species. 

 We have bred 7 ? and 29 c? 

 from a cocoon of the Cecro- 

 pia moth, and 6.? from one 

 of the Pi'omethea moth, all 

 the males agreeing with the 

 species described by Say as 

 nuncius,* and all the fe- 

 males agreeing with that described afterwards 

 as extrematis by Mr. Cresson. 



*Say does not mention whether liis description was taken 

 from a (5' or $ . 



THE SPARROWS. 



K 



The London Bvilder says: "One hundred 

 and eighteen Sparrows havo been ofibred upon 

 the altars of science. Tlio contents of the stom- 

 achs of the victims have been examined, tabu- 

 lated and recorded. Three culprits alone, out 

 of this hecatomb, were proved by the unsparing 

 search, guilty of having lived for the past four- 

 and-twenty hours upon grain. In fact, there 

 were three tliieves out of tlie 118; all the other 

 victims had worked, more or less, for their liv- 

 ing. Beetles and grubs, and larvse of all obnox- 

 ious kinds had been their diet. In 75 of the 

 birds, infants of all ages, from the callow fledg- 

 ling to the little Pecksy and Flapsy that just 

 twitter along the ground, hardly any but insect 

 remains were detected." 



