O1 
or 
“PARASITES OF SPIDERS AND THEIR EGGS, 
I here refer to another figured body parasite, which was overlooked 
when preparing the material on parasitic enemies for Vol. IJ. Mr. L. O. 
Howard, of the Entomological Department of the Bureau of Ag- 
ae Be riculture, Washington, has described and figured! Polysphincta 
bs *" dictyne and its parasitic larva feeding upon Linyphia communis. 
(igs. 44 and 45.) The fly was raised from a larva found on a 
young Dictyna volupis Keyserling. When taken, May 15th (1887), the larva 
was about half as long as the spider’s abdomen and about one-fourth as 
thick. It was attached by the mouth to the front of the abdomen. May 
18th the host was dead and the larva full grown, larger than the spider 
had been, and had begun to spin a cocoon. May 25th it changed to a 
pupa, and the fly came out June Ist following. The adult parasite is a 
beautiful little male two and five-tenths millimetres long. The sketch, 
as copied from “ Insect ‘ 
Life,’ shows the posi- 
tion which the para- 
sitic larva assumed on 
the spider. In the col- 
lection in which the 
above species was tak- 
en Mr. Howard found 
five other small spiders, 
four of which support- Bie. 44, Fic. 45. 
ed parasitic larvee upon Fic. 44. Polysphincta dictyne much enlarged. Fic. 45. Larval parasite 
on young spider, Dictyna volupis. (After Howard.) 
the dorsum of the ab- é 
domen, and one delicate cocoon from which a parasitic larva had been 
taken. 
In the same journal? Mr. Howard reported another species of Poly- 
sphincta found by Dr. W. H. Fox, of Washington, D. C., upon a young 
specimen of Steatoda borealis. The larva was slender, cylindrical, white, 
one millimetre long, apparently less than half grown, and was attached to 
its host substantially as above described. It was taken in February, which 
would indicate a larval hibernation of the parasite. 
Mr. Howard has described still another species of Polysphincta, P. 
strigis, whose habits were quite fully observed. Mr. Nathan Banks found 
_ the larva of this species feeding externally upon Epeira strix, at 
Parasite Sea Cliff, Long Island, May 11th, 1891. At the time of capture 
ee thie parasitic larva was considerably larger than the spider; it 
; spun up May 14th. When brought to Mr. Howard (May 18th) 
the cocoon was completed in the vial in which Mr. Banks had placed the 
specimen ; it was spun of dense yellow brown silk, was six millimetres long, 
cylindrical, two millimetres in diameter and rounded at both ends. It 
' Tnsect Life, Vol. I., page 106, “Insect Life, Vol. I, page 42. 
