212 
PAEASITES OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 
tion of the host, only four or five would be deposited at a time, and 
notwithstanding that after the depositing of what probably amounted 
to barely 5 per cent of those which filled their abdomens fairly to 
bursting, they ceased, and nothing short of impregnation served to 
arouse their maternal instincts again. As virgins they displayed a 
longevity lacking in the case of the fertilized individuals, and in those 
instances in which they were properly cared for easily outlived the 
time necessary for their scanty progeny to complete its transformation. 
This progeny, as was expected, was exclusively of the male sex, 
which, when afforded opportunity, promptly united with their virgin 
mothers, who thereupon displayed the normal desire to deposit their 
eggs. As in the instance of Schedius, the fruit of such unnatural 
union consisted of both sexes. 
Nothing approaching this characteristic of Melittobia has been 
encountered in any similar studies which have been made of the par- 
thenogenetic reproduction of the parasitic Hymenoptera. In every 
instance either one sex or the other has been the result, and oviposi- 
tion by virgin mothers, in so far as any observations to the contrary 
have been made, is perfectly normal and as free as by mated females. 
It formed a strong argument in favor of the sex of the egg, in tins 
particular species, having been determined before fertilization took 
place, a characteristic which is certainly not possessed by the majority 
of the parasites studied. 
Chalcis fiskei Crawf. 
This large and fine representative of its genus has been received 
from Japan each year since the first large shipments came from that 
country in 1908 as a parasite of Crossocosmia and Tachina. It is of 
interest in that it is fairly common, and worthy of consideration on 
that account, but more on account of its having been reared under 
circumstances winch tend to indicate that it somehow gains access to 
the tachinid larva before the latter leaves its host. This evidence is 
not sufficiently complete to justify an outright statement to the same 
effect, but it is sufficiently convincing to make its possibility worthy 
of mention. On this account the species acquires an importance 
which it would otherwise lack, and as a possible specific enemy of the 
parasites of the gipsy moth it is worthy of special endeavors looking 
toward its exclusion. 
MONODONTOMERUS ^REUS WALK. 
As will be mentioned again under the discussion of this species as 
a primary parasite of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth, Mono- 
dontomerus is commonly reared as a secondary as well as a primal y 
parasite. Its occurrence as a secondary is altogether too frequent 
and under such conditions as to make its recognition as such too plain 
to permit excuses in its behalf similar to those which have been put 
