182 



PARASITES OF GIPSY AND BBOWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



Fig. 24. — Pachyneuron gifu- 

 ensis: Egg. Greatly en- 

 larged. (Original.) 



remains. The Anastatus, after consuming the entire contents of the 

 eggshell had reached the hibernating stage, and settled down to 



some 10 months of inactivity, when it was 

 attacked by Schedius. No less than three 

 Schedius eggs were deposited in fairly rapid 

 succession (but probably by different parents) 

 since the three larvae, the outlines of which 

 are shown, are practically equal in size. All 

 are apparently about ready to molt for the second time, and after 

 this molt, if they had been allowed to live, one would most certainly 

 have gained the mastery and devoured the others. 



But this conflict for supremacy, sanguinary as it is, is only the 

 beginning of what might occur in the open in Japan. Tyndarichus 

 and Pachyneuron are both habitually and essen- 

 tially secondary parasites, and both prey not only 

 upon Schedius, but upon each other with perfect 

 impartiality. Either might attack the surviving 

 Schedius, and be in turn the victim of the other, fig. 25.— Pachyneuron 

 and there is no apparent reason why Schedius £^j£; %££ 

 should not return to the fray and, by destroying enlarged. (Origi- 

 its own secondary, start the battle all over again. 



Such a long-drawn-out contest is hardly likely to occur very 

 often, but in many instances tales scarcely less sanguinary have been 

 told by the relics which strewed the field of battle. Among these 

 relics the anal shield with egg stalk and the characteristic mandibles 

 (figs. 21 and 22, respectively) have served as 

 positive indication of the former presence of 

 Schedius. Tyndarichus is betrayed by its 

 mandibles (fig. 23), which, like those of Sched- 

 ius, retain their characteristic form through 

 all three stages. The former presence of 

 Pachyneuron, curiously enough, is quite easily 

 recognizable by its characteristic eggshell (fig. 

 24), which is of a substance which defies the action of hot concen- 

 trated caustic potash sufficently prolonged to result in the complete 

 solution of the gipsy-moth eggshell. It may also be recognized by 

 its mandibles (fig. 25), which are rather small and inconspicuous in 

 any but the last stage. Anastatus, when its former presence can 

 be proved at all, may be recognized by its mandibles also (Hg. 26), 

 but these are so small as to be very difficult to find, and it is alto- 

 gether probable that there have been eggs dissected in which Anas- 

 tatus was the original primary parasite, but of which fact no proof 

 remained. 



Fig. 26.— Anastatus bifas- 

 ciatus: Larval mandi- 

 bles. Greatly en- 

 larged. (Original.) 





