12 BULLETIN" 1028, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
begin to oviposit immediately, for the bulk of issuance of the spring 
generation parasite maggots is around June 12. The adults which 
develop from these maggots will be found issuing from 7 to 11 days 
later. Cocoons of the second generation, or those in which the para- 
site is to pass the winter, begin to appear about the fourth of July, 
but usually not in abundance until the second week in July. 
FEEDING OF PARASITIZED LARVAE VERSUS NONPARASITIZED LARVAE. 
Several feeding records were kept of gipsy -moth larvae which were 
known to be parasite- free as checks against similar feeding records 
of larvae in which A. melanoscelus had oviposited. The records show 
that healthy gipsy-moth larvae eat from two to three times as much 
as those which contain parasite maggots. These data were obtained 
from feeding records made during the period between oviposition in 
the caterpillar and issuance of the parasite maggot and the checks 
were kept only for a similar number of days. The gipsy-moth larva 
from which a maggot of A. melanoscelus has issued eats no more, al- 
though it may live a few hours or as long as two weeks, the average 
being seven days. 
LONGEVITY EXPERIMENTS. 
The tray shown in figure 1 (p. 4) was found most satisfactory for 
the longevity experiments although glass tubes 8 by 2 inches were 
used successfully for small numbers of parasites. 
The adults were fed on an equal mixture of honey and water, 
sprayed on small pieces of sponge. It is important that the sponges 
should be kept clean by thoroughly washing every other day. 
Nothing but the food was inclosed in the trays with the adults, but 
in the tubes they did better if a crumpled bit of paper was present 
on which the parasites might rest and clean themselves. A. melmios- 
celus in the tubes and trays," if kept in the light, lived for about one 
week. When the containers were kept darkened by means of black 
paper, the parasites remained rather inactive much of the time, and 
lived considerably longer. 
In several experiments with adults issuing in spring and summer, 
males and females lived for 30 to 32 days. In one case a female of 
the summer issuing generation lived 35 days. There was very little 
difference in the length of life of the adults, the females living 
slightly longer than the males. "Without food they were able to live 
only a few days. 
HOSTS OF A. MELANOSCELUS. 
Ratzeburg n gives as hosts in Europe Porthetria dispar L. and 
Stilpnotia solids L. 
From field-collected material in this country A. melanoscelus has 
been reared only from the gipsy moth. S. salicis, the satin moth. 
11 Ratzeburg, Julius Theodor Christian, op cit. 1852. 
