212 •PARASITES OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 



tion of the *host, only four or five would be deposited at a time, and 

 notwithstanding that after the depositing of what probably amounted 

 to barely 5 per cent of those which filled their abdomens fairly to 

 bursting, they ceased, and nothing short of impregnation served to 

 arouse their maternal instincts again. As virgins they displayed a 

 longevity lacking in the case of the fertilized individuals, and in those 

 instances in which they were properly cared for easily outlived the 

 time necessary for their scanty progeny to complete its transformation. 



This progeny, as was expected, was exclusively of the male sex, 

 which, when afforded opportunity, promptly united with their virgin 

 mothers, who thereupon displayed the normal desire to deposit their 

 eggs. As in the instance of Schedius, the fruit of such unnatural 

 union consisted of both sexes. 



Nothing, approaching this characteristic of Melittobia has been 

 encountered in any similar studies which have been made of the par- 

 thenogenetic reproduction of the parasitic Hymenoptera. In every 

 instance either one sex or the other has been the result, and oviposi- 

 tion by virgin mothers, in so far as any observations to the contrary 

 have been made, is perfectly normal and as free as by mated females. 



It formed a strong argument in favor of the sex of the egg, in this 

 particular species, having been determined before fertilization took 

 place, a characteristic which is certainly not possessed by the majority 

 of the parasites studied. 



Chalcis fiskei Crawf. 



This large and fine representative of its genus has been received 

 from Japan each year since the first large shipments came from that 

 country in 1908 as a parasite of Crossocosmia and Tachina. It is of 

 interest in that it is fairly common, and worthy of consideration on 

 that account, but more on account of its having been reared under 

 circumstances which tend to indicate that it somehow gains access to 

 the tachinid larva before the latter leaves its host. This evidence is 

 not sufficiently complete to justify an outright statement to the same 

 effect, but it is sufficiently convincing to make its possibility worthy 

 of mention. On this account the species acquires an importance 

 which it would otherwise lack, and as a possible specific enemy of the 

 parasites of the gipsy moth it is worthy of special endeavors looking 

 toward its exclusion. 



MONODONTOMERUS .EREUS WALK. 



As will be mentioned again under the discussion of this species as 

 a primary parasite of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth, Mono- 

 dontomerus is commonly reared as a secondary as well as a primary 

 parasite. Its occurrence as a secondary is altogether too frequent 

 and under such conditions as to make its recognition as such too plain 

 to permit excuses in its behalf similar to those which have been put 



