224 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



stems of Dipsacus sylvestris, Huds., at the Havenstreet Woods, in 

 the Isle of Wight. 



44. Siphonophora granaria, Kirby. 

 Aphidius avence, Hal., destroys this injurious species in great 

 quantities. A stem of barley I noticed in August, 1907, sup- 

 ported no fewer than fourteen females of this Aphid, every one 

 of which produced the above parasite. Curtis says (' Farm In- 

 sects,' 291) that he bred it from a large testaceous female Aphid 

 found on an ear of wheat in the middle of July, and that it 

 emerged from near its host's anus. He mentions the habit of 

 the male parasite of hovering over the plants infested with 

 Aphids while the female is laying eggs upon them, which process 

 is accomplished by bending her body under her breast so that, 

 by lengthening her terebra, the spicula is produced under the 

 Aphid, and an egg instantly inserted in its belly near the tail ; 

 such of their hosts as are already inoculated are passed over. 

 He refers to Haliday (Ent. Mag. 1835, p. 99), who, however, 

 simply says that he has bred it from Aphids on Avena sativa, and 

 observed the proceedings of this species to be precisely similar 

 to those of Aphidius roses, : " the Pucerons pierced by it are 

 found adhering to the grains of oats," &c. Curtis {I. c. 292) 

 records Ephedrus plagiator, Nees, whose habits were unknown to 

 its author and Haliday, from the same host, and remarks that it 

 oviposits in the back of its host. He also refers to a hyper- 

 parasite through this Ephedrus, and describes it as Ceraphron 

 carpenteri ; and Buckton, who was doubtful respecting the deter- 

 mination of his direct parasite with E. plagiator — it is said by 

 Marshall (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1899) to be " very different from an 

 Ephedrus" — gives (Mon. Aph. i. 118) an interesting account of 

 the oviposition of this hyperparasite, which he synonymises with 

 Ceraphron clandestinum, Nees : it extends, he says, over a period 

 of at least ten minutes after the host's skin has already been 

 pierced. A third direct parasite is known to be Aphidius 

 granarius, Marsh., who says (Bracon. d'Europ. ii. 579) that 

 Bignell bred eleven specimens of both sexes in the middle of 

 August, 1883, and of June, 1884, from this host on several kinds 

 of GraminacecB. A species of Entedon with black feet is also 

 mentioned by Curtis (F. Ins. 294) as a probable parasite of this 

 Aphid, though his Dacnusa cerealis (Blacus ambulans, Hal.) had 



