Psyche 
[March 
114 
by Aubrook (1939) and Fraser (1943) to be a parasite of the larva. 
Withycombe (1922) had earlier reported hymenopterous parasites of 
the larva, but it is by no means certain that they were also Dyscoletes. 
Indeed, of the single larval parasite that Withycombe endeavored to 
rear, but which was destroyed by mold as a pupa, he says that it 
appeared to be that of an apterous form. At Princeton, N. J., I too 
obtained hymenopterous larvae from larval B. brumalis in the au- 
tumn, but was unable to rear them. 
From 13 B. notoperates larvae collected at Coldwater Canyon on 
Mt. San Jacinto (Aug. 22, 1973), 17 hymenopterous larvae emerged 
(3 from 1 larva, 2 from each of 3 larvae, and 1 from each of 8 
larvae) ; one additional larva was obtained from a larval cell of 
Boreus containing the remains of the mecopterous larva. By Febru- 
ary 1, 1974, only 5 specimens (4?, 1 cf ) had transformed to adults. 
All are a megaspilid (Ceraphronoidea) , and are tentatively identi- 
fied as an undescribed species of Conostigmus . 12 It is an interesting 
association, for so far as I am aware no ceraphronoid is known to 
have a mecopterous host, although there are records of neuropteroid 
hosts ( e.g Muesebeck 1959, Dessart 1967). 
Withycombe (1922), who thought — like many others — that 
Boreus has an annual cycle, was puzzled as to what alternative host 
a hymenopterous parasite of Boreus might attack from August to 
December. This, so that it could have a brood appearing early in the 
new year that could once again parasitize a new generation of Boreus. 
Syms (1934) and Aubrook (1939), however, conclude from their 
finding in the autumn, of two stages of the larva of B. hyemalis, 
that Boreus probably has a 2-year life cycle, and Syms actually showed 
this to be so for at least some larvae. That it does in fact have a 
2-year cycle has been proven conclusively by Strubing (1950), and it 
is very likely that all Boreus have a cycle that normally takes 2 years 
— * assuredly that is so for B. notoperates , B. brumalis, and B. nivo- 
riundus, which I have studied. The problem that Withycombe posed 
thus vanishes, for the larvae of a second generation of Boreus are 
available at any time that the hymenopterous parasite emerges and 
is ready to oviposit. Such parasites of Boreus , therefore, could be 
specific parasites, having no other host. 
In the case of the larva of B. notoperates , confined as it is to hard 
earthen cells for perhaps half of its life, it is likely that the parasite 
12 Dr. Paul Dessart, Chef de Travaux, Entomologie, Institut Royal des 
Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Bruxelles, has very kindly confirmed the 
generic placement of Conostigmus (March 11, 1974). 
