82 MISC. PUBLICATION 174, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



rium. The number of instars is said to be five. The egg stage ranged 

 in Packard's experiments from 1% to 5 days, the larval stage from 

 7 to 10 days, and the pupal stage from 7 to 13 days. Little is known 

 of the seasonal history. Emergence dates on the specimens exam- 

 ined range through all the months of the year, but since many of 

 these specimens were reared under laboratory conditions these dates 

 do not give a true picture of the seasonal history. It appears likely 

 that several generations occur in certain localities. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The writer has seen no specimens of this species from Europe, and 

 although it is recorded from England by Enock and from Russia by 

 both Kurdjumov and Meyer, none of these writers described or fig- 

 ured the specimens in question. It is therefore impossible to con- 

 firm or deny its presence in the Old World. 



In North America Eupteromalus fulvipes is widely distributed. 

 Specimens at hand, together with records by the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy, show it to have been reared from the hessian fly in Illinois, 

 Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, 

 New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, 

 Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. Specimens from Ontario, 

 Canada, are also in the National Museum collection. The above 

 records embrace an area extending from Ontario, Canada, to North 

 Carolina and westward to Oklahoma and Kansas and in the North- 

 west to Oregon. In the Mississippi Valley and eastward its distribu- 

 tion seems to be general, as indicated by numerous individual records 

 from those States in which extensive investigations have been pur- 

 sued. In all probability its distribution actually embraces an area 

 somewhat wider than that indicated. It apparently does not at 

 present occur in California. 



IMPORTANCE 



Opinions vary as to the usefulness of this species in controlling 

 the fly. Early writers ranked it as second only to Merisus destructor, 

 but Hill and Smith consider it of very minor importance, at least 

 in the Middle Atlantic States. 



EUPTEROMALUS AMERICANUS, new species 



(Fig. 19) 



Eupteromalus americanus can be separated from E. fulvipes by 

 the shorter first tergite, the shallower and very slightly coarser punc- 

 tation of the mesoscutum and scutellum, and certain differences in 

 color, of which the most striking is the fact that the scape, except 

 at the base, and the pedicel are fuscous or brownish. As elsewhere 

 pointed out, it is extremely similar to E. inicropterus Lindeman 

 and may eventually prove to be that species. The two can be dis- 

 tinguished only by very slight differences in color and sculpture, 

 E. micropterus being distinctly greenish with slightly coarser punc- 

 tures on the mesoscutum and scutellum. 



Female. — Length 1.5 to 2.3 mm. Head transverse, a little broader than 

 thorax at tegulae, nearly three times as broad as thick antero-posteriorly at 

 the middle, moderately concave behind and very slightly convex in front; 

 occiput distinctly margined; ocelli in a low triangle, the postocellar and 



