22 BULLETIN 689^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



site, although many egg clusters of viridula collected in the field 

 failed to show any evidence of parasitism. 



A PARASITE. 



Trichopoda fennifes Fab. — Morrill (7) mentions the presence of 

 the egg of a tachinid fly on a nymph in the fifth instar collected at 

 Quincy, Fla., among a lot of 39 specimens in stages susceptible to 

 parasitism by tachinids. The writer has found tachinid eggs com- 

 mon on adults taken at Baton Rouge, and in all cases where the fhes 

 have been reared they have proved to be adults of Trichopoda 



pennipes (fig. 14), which is known 

 to attack a number of the larger 

 Hemiptera. Upon completing 

 their growth the larvae left the 

 bodies of their hosts and trans- 

 formed to puparia in the soil. The 

 puparium is cylindrical in shape 

 with rounded ends. It measures 

 about 7 mm. in length and 3.5 mm. 

 in width and when fully colored is 

 dull reddish black. 



Of 73 adults collected on mustard 



Fia. 14. — Trichopoda pennipes, a tachnid ^y -i-. i ., i i 



parasitic on the Southern green plant-bug: -December 6, 1915, 13 maleS and 5 



Adult. Enlarged about 3 diameters. (Chit- fgmales, Or nearly 25 per cent, 



tenden.) . • . . 



bore tachinid eggs. Most of the 

 adults had only one egg upon them, but one had two, two three, 

 and one four. Of the 26 eggs on all adults, 4 were on the dorsal 

 surface and 20 on the ventral surface, while 2 were on the eyes. 

 Four eggs were found on the head, 10 on the prothorax, 3 on the 

 mesothorax, 2 on the metathorax, 5 on the abdomen, and 2 on the 

 wing covers. An egg has also been observed on the femora of one 

 of the fore legs. 



The surface of the egg that is quite firmly attached to the host is 

 usually flat. The opposite surface is strongly convex and is elUp- 

 soidal in outline. The entire surface of the egg is ghstening and is 

 marked by minute hexagonal reticulations. The egg measures 

 about 0.54 mm. in length and 0.35 mm. in width. Its color varies 

 from white to gray, apparently being white when first deposited. 



PREDACIOUS ENEMIES. 



Podisus maculiventris Say. — A single instance of this common 

 pentatomid bug preying upon Nezara viridula was noted in the field 

 at Baton Rouge during December, 1914. This individual had a 

 nymph in the fifth instar impaled on its beak. 



Eutkyrliynchus jioridanus L. — Among the notes in the Bureau of 

 Entomology files made by the late H. M, Russell, mention is made 

 of two predacious enemies observed by him in Florida during 1907. 



