PARASITES OF GIPSY-MOTH PUP. 951 
settle this point at all definitely. Meanwhile it does not seem to be 
advisable to attempt the introduction of the European sarcophagids 
until we know whether they are an aid in the control of the moth or a 
possible hindrance to the work of the parasites. 
The special investigations which were conducted for the purpose 
of determining the exact status of the sarcophagids in America in 
relation to the gipsy moth were conducted by Mr. T. L. Patterson, 
and have been made the subject of a special report.’ 
Another series of investigations, conducted by Mr. P. H. Timber- 
lake, upon the parasites of the pine ‘“‘tussock moth” in northern 
Wisconsin, resulted in the accumulation of evidence which pointed 
quite convincingly to the parasitic character of certain sarcophagids 
which he encountered in abundance associated with this insect. 
Unfortunately it is not wholly convincing. If it could be accepted 
at its full face value it would mean that in these flies we have a group 
of dipterous parasites wholly distinct from the tachinids, and working 
in a Wholly different manner. The tachinids are caterpillar parasites, 
and never, so far as has been recorded, attack the caterpillar after it 
has spun for pupation. The sarcophagids, like Pimpla, Theronia, 
etc., are pupal parasites and will be grouped together, end at the same 
time apart from the hymenopterous pupal parasites, even as the 
tachinids as a group stand beside but apart from the hymenopterous 
parasites of the caterpillars. 
THE PREDACEOUS BEETLES. 
It is very probable that further studies into the subject of natural 
predatory enemies of the gipsy moth will result in the addition of a 
considerable number of names to the list of predaceous beetles which 
attack it in one stage or another of its existence and with more or 
less freedom. ‘The egg masses received from abroad have very fre- 
quently been infested with small dermestids, and in the forests in the 
vicinity of Kief, ‘Russia, in September, 1910, large numbers of the 
larve of a species not yet determined were found feeding, to all 
appearances, upon the eggs of the moth as well as upon the covering 
of felted hair. 
That these larve do actually eat the eggs was demonstrated by Mr. 
Burgess during his association with the moth work as conducted by 
the State board of agriculture in 1899 and later his observations were 
confirmed by a series of simple experiments conduated at the labora- 
tory. 
In the spring of 1908 a large number of cocoons of the tussock moth 
with ege masses attached was collected in East Cambridge, Mass., 
and from them in June a number of dermestid beetles issued, deter- 
1U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, Technical Series 19, Part III, March 22, 1911. 
