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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



111. Cliaitophorus aceris, Linn. 



Haliday described (Ent. Mag. 1833, p. 490) his Trioxys 

 aceris, of which he says, "Prodiit mihi ex Aphidibus Aceris 

 Pseudoplatani Julio mense," from the same specimen as is 

 figured and described by Curtis (B. E. pi. et fol. 383) under the 

 name Apliidius cirsii, through the latter erroneously supposing 

 it to have been bred from an aphis on Cirsium (Carduus) arvense. 

 Curtis's name should, however, be restored, on account of its 

 two years' priority. Apliidius restrictus, Nees, and A. rosce, Hal., 

 are also given as preying upon this species by Gaulle (Cat. 87). 

 Katzeburg's Chrysolampus (Sphegig aster) apliidipliagus is probably 

 a hyperparasite ; he says of it (Ichn. d. Forst. i. 181 et ii. 184), 

 " Spater hat Hr. Bouche dasselbe Thier aus Aphis Aceris erzo- 

 gen." Buckton gives (Mon. Aph. ii. 125) a remarkable account 

 of receiving two oviparous females of this species from Mont- 

 pellier, which had deposited three apparently normal eggs 

 en route ; the latter were left exposed, and the following morning 

 were found to consist merely of shrivelled membranes. Their 

 parents had already been parasitised by a species of Ap>hidius, 

 and Buckton suggests that the latter's larvae had penetrated the 

 eggs within the Aphides' bodies. He, however, thinks that the 

 parasites may have been Pteromali, one species of which, P. 

 ovulorum, Forst. (given at I. c. 154, though not associated), is 

 known to lay its eggs within those of Aphids ; and of it Buckton 

 says : " The parasitic egg afterwards discloses the young grub, 

 which attacks the aphis hardly older than itself." But I have 

 never heard of an egg, containing a Hymenopterous parasite, 

 attaining the larval state. Surely the mere pressure of a foreign 

 substance within the host-egg, to say nothing of its ruptured 

 shell, would preclude development ; and certainly the whole 

 account requires confirmation. 



112. Pterocomma pilosa, Buck. 



Six females of Apliidius pterocomma, Marsh. (Bracon. d'Europ. 

 ii. 579), were bred in Devonshire on June 24th, 1889, by Bignell 

 from this species. 



113. Cryptosiphum gallarum, Kalt. 

 Allotria victrix, Westw., and Kieffer's new A. orthocera are 

 said by Gaulle to have been raised from this species (Cat. 26, 27). 



