119 



Of the hundreds of specimens bred out during the past summer 

 from eggs kept in tlie laboratory by Mr. Girault the proportion of the 

 sexes seems to be about equal. Both sexes frequently emerge from 

 the same bollworm egg. 



The eggs of the bollworm are attacked by a second parasite belong- 

 ing to a second group, the Proctotrypoidea, Telenomnis heliothidis 

 Ashm. (see fig. 22). This species was first discovered by Mally and 

 described from a single specimen bred 

 by him from an Qgg of the bollworm. 

 Two females and a single male speci- 

 men issued on May 30, 1904, from 

 bollworm eggs kept in the laboratory 

 at Paris, Tex. These eggs had been 

 collected on cornsilks in a field and 

 were laid by moths of the first gener- 



,• XT ^ ^ '-^^ r. ^-t 4-\^\r. Fig. 22. — Telenomus heliothidis— much 



atlOn. No more specimens of this enlarged (original). 



parasite were obtained during the 



year, although hundreds of eggs were under observation. It seems 

 probable, therefore, that it is very rare, or possibly that it attacks 

 the eggs of some other insect also. 



DESCRIPTION OF TELENOMUS HELIOTHIDIS ASHMEAD. 



Female. — Length 0.6 mm. Black, smooth, impunctured,^ head large, much wider 

 than the thorax; eyes pubescent. Antennae dark brown, the flagellum twice as long 

 as the scape, the pedicel stout and as long as the first and second funicular joints 

 together, the third and fourth aboutequal, not longer than thick, the fifth larger, mofiil- 

 iform, club four-jointed, the second and third joints quadrate, the last conic. Thorax 

 ovoid, faintly pubescent, almost bare, mesonotum without furrows, metathorax short, 

 rounded, unarmed. Wings hyaline, with a long fringe; submarginal vein joining 

 the marginal at about one-fourth the length of the wing. Abdomen not longer than 

 the thorax, broadly truncate behind, the first segment exceedingly short, striate, 

 second segment not, or very little, longer than wide. Legs dark brown, the coxae black, 

 and the tarsi whitish. 



Male. — Differs from the female as follows: Length 0.65 mm., mandibles brownish 

 yellow, antenhae longer, filiform, about as long as the body; flagellum three times as 

 long as the wcape, pedicel and first flagellar joint about equal and rounded monili- 

 form, following joints a little smaller, last one-half longer and obtusely conic. Bases 

 of the tibiae yellowish. 



PARASITES OF THE LARVA. 



Owing to the cannibalistic habits of the bollworm, the breeding of 

 parasites is a rather tedious process, since each larva must be confined 

 in a separate breeding jar. This is most easily accomplished by con 

 fining the desired number of larvae under a series of inverted tumblers, 

 each provided with a small boll or bit of other suitable food. In prac 

 tice we have found that pieces of green cowpea pods are most avail- 



