114 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



large native silkworms, Callosamia promethea^ Samia cecropia, and An- 

 therceap<jlyphemus, from the cocoons of which it emerges in the Northern 

 States early in the spring, a considerable number of the parasites ap- 

 pearing from a single cocoon. 



A female specimen from Aletia has the head and thorax black, the 8th-10th joints 

 of the antenutB white, the palpi black, the legs including all the coxie red, with the 

 tips of the posterior femora and of the posterior tibiae black, and the posterior tarsi 

 tinged with brown. The first four joints of the abdomen are entirely red, the snc- 

 ceeding joints and the sheaths of the ovipositor black, the ovipositor itself reddish; 

 the apical joints of the abdomen have a white 

 spot above. Relying upon the length of the 

 ovipositor as a character for separating mtnaws, 

 Say, from saniiw, Pack.,(33) the female of the 

 present species may be distinguished by the 

 ovipositor beiug much shorter than the" abdo- 

 men, as shown in Fig. 41, &; Fig. 41, a repre- 

 senting Cryptus samice. Fig. 41 c indicates the 

 form of the abdomen in the male. 



Thb Ovate Chalcis (Fig. 42).— In i 

 the next family {Ghalcididce) to the 

 Ichneumonidoe^ to which the preceding 

 three species belong, we have two par- 

 asites which issue from the pupa, the 

 larger and more abundant of which is 

 the Ovate Chalcis {CliaJcis ovata Say). 

 It is one of the largest of the North 

 American Chalcids, measuring 5°^™ in 

 length, and may be readily distin- 

 guished from the other Cotton Worm parasites by its swollen hind thighs 

 and by the gla-sy appearance of its abdomen. The species is also easily 

 distinguished by the hind thighs being black, with a yellow spot at tip, 

 and by the tegulse being entirely yellow. The species is widespread 

 in the United States, and occurs also in Mexico and the West Indies. 

 We have reared it from Aletia chrysalides collected by Professor Willet 

 in Georgia, Professor Comstock in Alabama, Mr. Schwarz in Texas, Dr. 

 Anderson in Mississippi, and by us in the first-mentioned State and in 

 IS'orth Carolina ; while we have likewise reared it from Desmia maeulalis 

 (the Grape leaf-folder), in Missouri, and found it commonly infesting 

 the chrysalides of certain Hackberry -feeding worms {Apatura lycaon, 

 Fabr., and A. herse, Fabr.) in several of the Southern States. 



Unlike the Watchful Pimpla, the Ovate Chalcis seems to be almost 

 equally abundant throughout the season, increasing but little towards 

 fall. Mr. Schwarz is of the opinion that the species is perhaps more 

 abundant in Texas than in Alabama, and that only full-grown worms 

 or possibly, occasionally, a newly-formed chrysalis, are attacked. He 

 arrived at this latter conclusion from the fact that in all the chrysalides 

 examined which contained the full-grown parasitic larvae the moth was 

 already formed and its abdomen destroyed, while the young parasitic 

 larv^ were always found in apparently healthy chrysalides where the 



Fig. 41. — Cryptus samice: a, female; 6, fe- 

 male abdomen of G. nuncius ; c, male abdomen ; 

 d, hishly magnified piece of wing — hair-line 

 showing natural length, (After Riley.) 



