2 BULLETIN 1028, U. S. DEPARTMEIv^T OF AGRICULTURE. 



their native homes to New England. A compreliensive report ^ of 

 this work from its beginnings through 1910 has been published in 

 Bulletin 91 of the Bureau of Entomology. 



Among the imported parasites which are now established is 

 Apanteles melanoscelus Ratz., a double-brooded parasite of the 

 gipsy moth. The following report has been prepared in two parts : 

 Part I contains the description of the species and its life history, 

 and Part II takes up its introduction and establishment. 



PART I.— DESCRIPTION AND LIFE HISTORY. 



HISTORY. 



The insect was described by Ratzeburg^ in 1844 very briefly as 

 follows (translation) : 



Microgaster melanoscelus is so similar to soUtarius that, since it also has 

 the same mode of life, one might regard it as merely a variety of that species ; 

 but it is distingaiished not only by the very black femora. . . but also by the 

 third abdominal segment being scarcely rugose, only coarsely punctate at base. 

 Pits at the base of the seutel very narrow. The one male which I possess is 

 only one line long. 



In 1852 Ratzeburg* again mentions this species and gives a 

 record of its being reared from Porthetria disbar L. and Stilpnotia 

 solids L. 



Reinhard ^ writes in 1880 as follows : 



The specimens called by Ratzeburg (Ich. der Forstinsect. Ill) Apanteles 

 melanoscelus, bred from Liparis salicis, are beyond all doubt this species. 



Reinhard is here speaking of A. soUtarius and believes the two 

 to be synonymous. In the same article he places Ratzeburg's type of 

 A. melanoscelus in A. difficilis (Nees) Reinh. This is undoubtedly 

 incorrect, as the biology of the two parasites is very different. 

 Marshall ^ writes in part as follows of A. difficilis: 

 Common. The cocoons are flesh-colored or buff . . . ; a few, by some accident, 

 are more yellow. The maggots, on leaving the body of their victim, make 

 separate naked cases, without clustering together. From 1 to 20 issue from a 

 single caterpillar, according to its size. 



Dalla Torre ^ in 1898 also considered melanoscelus synonymous 

 with A. difficilis (Nees) Reinh. 



'■^ Howard, L. O., and Fiske, W. F. the importation into the united states of the 



PARASITES OF THE GIPSY MOTH AND THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. U. S. Dept. AgT. Bur. Ent. 



Bul. 91. 344 p., 74 flgs., 27 pi. (1 col.). 1911. 



3 Ratzeburg, Julius Theodor Cheistian. die ichneumonen dee forstinsecten, 

 V. 1, p. 74, no. 21. 1844. 



* Ratzeburg, Julius Theodor Christian, die ichneumonen der forstinsecten, 

 V. 3, p. 56, no. 51. 1852. 



6 Reinhard, H. bbitrage zur kenntnis einiger braconiden-gattungen. In Deutsche 

 Ent. Zeitschr., jhrg. 24, heft 2, p. 352-370. 1880. 



"Marshall, T. A. monograph of British eraconid.\e, Pt. 1. In Trans. Ent. See. 

 London, 1885, p. 163. 



' Dalla Torre, C. G. de. catalogus hymenoptecorum, v. 4, braconidad, p. 168. 1898. 



