102 MISC. PUBLICATION 17 4, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



has a purplish cast. The holotype and the alleged allotype were 

 taken in different localities: and while both are said by Crawford to 

 have been reared from Morel 'ell istena ustulata Leconte, the laboratory 

 notes of W. J. Phillips, the collector, indicate that the female was 

 taken as a pupa from the burrow of Mordellistena ustulata* at La 

 Fayette, Ind., while the male emerged in a cage containing timothy 

 straws infested by Mord ell istena which had been collected at Wil- 

 mington, Ohio. 



On the other hand, the males herein ascribed to mordeTlistenae 

 agree with the female type of that species in all the characters men- 

 tioned by which the alleged allotype disagrees with the type, and in 

 one instance at least, a male was reared in association with females 

 which cannot be separated from the typical female. 



The writer is forced to the conclusion that the allotype male is 

 wrongly associated with the female holotype. 



The accompanying description is based upon the holotype female 

 and 7 other females and 9 males in the Xational Museum collection. 



REVIEW OF LITERATURE 



The original description is believed to be the only reference to 

 this species in the literature. 



HOSTS AND LIFE HISTORY 



As already stated, the type was collected as a pupa in the burrow 

 of Mordettistena ustulata and was probably parasitic upon that in- 

 sect. Three females in the Xational Museum collection were reared 

 from puparia of Phytophaga destructor by P. R. Myers, and one 

 male from the same host by E. G. Kelly. Three other specimens in 

 the same collection are said to have been reared by H. T. Osborn 

 from wheat straw infested with Harmolita species. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Specimens before the writer show the following distribution for 

 this species : Berry ville. Strasburg. and Woodstock, Va. ; Mount 

 Holly Springs. Pa.: Washington. D.C. : La Fayette, Ind.; Wakeeney 

 and Wellington, Kans. ; and Piano. Tex. 



IMPORTANCE 



The species is evidently of little or no importance as a parasite of 

 the hessian fly, since only four specimens have thus far been reared 

 from that host. 



MERISUS COGNATUS, new species 



(Fig. 23) 



Merisus cognatus, n.sp., superficially resembles M. fehriculosus, 

 but it may be distinguished by the deep black color of head and 

 thorax, the longer malar space, the weaker sculpture of head and 

 thorax, the shorter and more weakly sculptured propodeum, the 

 fact that both mandibles are not quadridentate. and the fact that 

 the postmarginal vein is longer than the marginal. It is more closely 

 related to 21. mordeTlistenae but is easily distinguished by the much 

 shallower sculpture of head and thorax, the different proportions of 

 the veins of the fore wing, and slight differences in the antennae. 



