Studies of the Development of Fidia viticida Walsh. 159 



STUDIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF FIDIA VITI- 

 CIDA WALSH, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ONE 

 NEW GENUS AND TWO NEW SPECIES OF HY- 

 MENOPTERA, BY WM. H. ASHMEAD* 



By F. M. Webster, M. Sc. 



PREVIOUS HISTORY. 



The first published notice of this insect that I can find in 

 our literature extends back only to 1866, when the species 

 was as yet undescribed, and during the Summer of which 

 year the late Mr. B. D. Walsh, afterward State Entomologist 

 of Illinois, received the adult insect from Kentucky, 

 where it seems to have been depredating on the foli- 

 age of the grape in great numbers. Mr. Walsh stated in 

 his reply that, although he had taken it in small numbers on 

 the native grape in both Northern and Southern Illinois, this 

 was the first report of their appearance in destructive num- 

 bers. The habit of dropping to the ground and feigning 

 death, when disturbed, and of feeding on the upper surface 

 of the leaYes were recorded, and the middle of June stated to 

 be the date of its annual appearance in Kentucky. Of the 

 larval stage, Mr. Walsh wrote, tentatively, as follows: 



" Most probably, as with the flea-beetle of the grape vine, 

 it is in the larva state that it does the principal part of the 

 damage, and as the larva of all beetles are altogether unlike 

 the perfect insect, you may not have recognized their iden- 

 tity. The larva of this species will be an elongate grub, with 

 a hard, shelly head, a soft body, no wings, of course, six legs 

 in front, and a single " pro-leg,'" or short, fleshy stump, which 

 it uses as a leg, at its tail ; and the color will probably be 

 some obscure shade of pale drab or brown. It will be found 

 sluggishly feeding on the surface of the leaYes along with 



" These studies constitute the more technical portion of an investigation car- 

 ried on as Entomologist of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. 



