THE NATURAL ENEMIES. 
99 
What is probably the same insect (fig. 42) was reared in some e 
infested twigs collected by Mr. T. Pergande in Virginia in July. 1885. 
Dr. Howard has examined these specimens, and pronounces them to be 
a new species of a European genus not hitherto recorded from this con- 
tinent, and has described them under the 
name Lathromeris cicada'. 1 The life cycle 
of this minute parasite is evidently so 
short that it is possible for it to pass 
through two or three generations within 
the egg period of seven or eight weeks of 
the Cicada, and this accounts for its ex- 
cessive multiplication, as described by Mr. 
Hart man, and probably makes it wherever 
it occurs one of the most efficient agencies 
in keeping the Cicada in check. 
The larger digger was}). — I have already 
referred to the probability of the larger 
digger wasp [Megastizus speciosus) preying 
on belated individuals of the periodical 
Cicada. That the bulk of the brood has 
disappeared, however, before this wasp 
becomes at all abundant has been often 
pointed out and is not to be questioned, 
and ir is well known that the most of its 
work is with the later-appearing dog-day harvest fly {Cicada pruinosa). 
With the assistance of Mr. Pergande and the writer, Professor Piley 
worked out the natural history of this wasp in detail in its relation to 
the dog-day harvest tly, and published a full illustrated account of the 
species.- Its life 
habits when it 
preys on the peri- 
odical Cicada are 
identical with its 
habits with the 
dog-day species or 
any other annual 
Cicada with which 
it may store its 
burrows. A brief 
account of the hab- 
its of this wasj) is here reproduced, together with the figures illustra- 
ting its very curious and interesting life stages. (See figs. 43-49. 
This wasp and its near allies are the natural and perhaps the most 
destructive of the insect enemies of the adults of the different species 
Fig. 45.— Adult Cicada with Megasti- 
zus egc attached at a— natural >ize 
(alter Riley). 
/ 
i burrow of Megastizus, with full-crown larva of latter 
feeding — Datura] size (alter Riley). 
Canadian Entom., vol. 30, April, 1898, pp. 102, 103. 
"Inflect Life, Vol. IV, March, L892, i>i». 248-252. 
