MARVELS OF METAMORPHOSIS 



827 



"see all the markers i havei" cries bobby, last in line 



Prize hunts for trapdoor spiders' tubes were often staged, the collectors receiving one cent for 

 each nest found. A grand prize of five cents was awarded for a clay tube containing a parasite or 

 a male spider. Each boy uses a different kind of paper marker, and the author collects them as 

 he digs up the tubes. Here the boys are "cashing in their chips," with Mrs. Jenks acting as "banker." 



parasites — larvae, pupae, and adults — but 

 not a single parasitized spider with the 

 larva still within its bod\'. So it became 

 evident that the season was short and defi- 

 nite, and that the fires had come just a few 

 days too late. The maggots had already 

 emerged from the bodies of the spiders. 



I must wait at least another year before I 

 could complete The Case of the Cellophane 

 Sheath. 



Nevertheless, I had specimens for labora- 

 tory rearing and to send to scientists for 

 possible identification. Again I was for- 

 tunate in that I applied to P. H. Timber- 

 lake, for it just happened that Prof. Harry 

 S. Smith, a co-worker of his at the Citrus 

 Experiment Station, was the man who had 

 found the only previously known specimen. 



He had seen it flying, knocked it down 

 with his hat, and placed it in a glass jar. 

 This adult female had sprayed many eggs 

 on the interior of the jar, but had died dur- 

 ing the night. 



This fly was afterwards identified as a 

 new species of the Family Cyrtidae, by Dr. 

 F. R. Cole, of Redlands, noted authority 

 on that family of parasites. Dr. Cole de- 

 termined my male and female specimens to 

 be of the same species, which he had named 



Ocnaea smithi and had described in a manu- 

 script as yet unpublished. 



Apparently the name and description of 

 the adult female was about all that was 

 known, and so almost its entire life history 

 was new territory for me to explore. 



And what a joy it was to explore that 

 virgin territory! Here at last was the in- 

 sect I had dreamed of for many years. I 

 need not even cut away the side of a co- 

 coon, as in the case of the wasp, for every 

 side of the transforming insect was con- 

 stantly visible through its transparent Cel- 

 lophane sheath. 



Time after time I was able to watch 

 and photograph that strange succession of 

 gnomelike forms, dissolving from one into 

 another like scenes in a motion picture. 

 Here, too, my "little movie in stills" ought 

 to tell the story far better than I can tell 

 it in words (pages 821-825). 



During these few weeks while my speci- 

 mens lived, I worked long hours, making 

 hay while the sun shone, and while the moon 

 beamed, too! 



But, all too soon, the larvae and pupae 

 developed into adults, lived their brief lives 

 of 7 or 8 days, and died, without presenting 

 me with any eggs or first-stage larvae. 



