Wasps 



contact, but it does not use them all for egg-laying. The sting 

 does not kill the dermestid larva but simply paralyzes its motor 

 nerves. It remains alive, as is evident from the fact that its ali- 

 mentary canal continues to work and excreta are emitted from the 

 anus. In spite of all the precautions taken by the mother Laelius to 

 assure herself of the complete paralyzing of her victim, occasionally 

 this is not complete and after a few days the dermestid larva molts, 

 in such cases, of course, the eggs of the parasite perish. Mr. 



Busck found the phenomenon 

 of parthenogenesis to occur 

 with this insect, a virgin female 

 in one instance having laid 

 eggs which hatched and the 

 larvae were reared to the adult 

 condition, all of the individu- 

 als, as was quite to be ex- 

 pected, being males. The 

 volume of the eggs laid by a 

 single female is surprising. It 

 lays more than twice its bulk 

 in eggs. The female drinks water greedily and possibly takes 

 other food. In confinement it will perish if left without water. 



An undescribed Bethylid of the genus Gonioqus in Kansas 

 has a similar life history, according to Popenoe and Marlatt, but 

 this one is of greater economic importance since it attacks the 

 larvae of the codling moth — the worm so commonly found in 

 apples. Just such a cluster of parasitic larvae as is described above 

 was found by Marlatt upon an apple-worm in the interior of an 

 apple. 



Fig. 19. — Goniozus sp., a parasite of the 

 Codling moth. (After Marlatt.) 



30 



