1941] 
Habits of Eucharidae 
59 
sitic insects possess a great adaptability in respect to the 
quantity of food required to bring them to maturity, and 
because of this some adults of certain species are as much 
as fifty times as large, by volume, as others. 
Habits of the Adults 
The adults emerge from the ant nest during the morning 
hours, the males usually slightly preceding the females, 
and mating takes place almost immediately. Swarms of 
males of Stilbula tenuicornis, numbering 100 or more, have 
been observed hovering in the air 1 or 2 feet above the 
entrance to a Camponotus nest (Clausen, 1923). As the 
females appeared at the entrance to the burrow they were 
pounced upon before they could take flight. A similar con- 
gregation of males over the host nest has been noted in 
Eucharis scutellaris . The stimulus which attracts these 
males to the host nest is not known ; it may be the nest odor, 
or they may be able to detect the presence of the freshly- 
emerged females of their own species in the nest. Not all 
species show this extreme agitation and activity on the part 
of the males. Those of Kapala terminalis rest quietly upon 
foliage nearby and become active only when a female 
emerges from the host burrow. 
Wheeler (1926) records the observations of W. M. Mann 
on a species of Orasema, five males of which were found 
mating with female pupae in an ant nest. 
The ants of the host colonies usually pay very little atten- 
tion to the eucharid parasites following transformation of 
the latter to the adult stage, though Wheeler mentions that 
Pheidole workers carry the adults of Orasema about in the 
nest and even feed them. Field observations on Eucharis 
scutellaris revealed many freshly emerged adults being 
dragged about over the ground by Formica workers, evi- 
dently in an effort to carry them back into the nest. 
Observations indicate that the adults of the majority of 
species do not feed. The entire quota of eggs in the ovaries 
is fully developed at the time of emergence of the adult 
female, and in many species these are all deposited that 
same day, so there is little need for food. Females of Kapala 
furcata (F.) of Panama were observed upon foliage heavily 
