TAC IITXTD PARASITES OF THE GTPSY MOTH. 
213 
forward in the case of Theronia fulvescens Cress. It is therefore con- 
si. leied as a secondary just as much and as habitually as it is a primary 
and the question as to whether it is of enough more importance in 
one role than it is in the other to render it more than neutral remains 
to be decided. Apparently its value as a primary is sufficient to 
render void its noxiousness as a secondary, and to leave a consider- 
able margin to its good, but this margin does not seem quite as wide 
now as it did a year ago, and it will require a year or two more to 
determine the tine status of the parasite. 
Miscellaneous Parasites. 
There are quite a number of small ehaleidids. the most of them 
being Dihraclnis bnuclmittus Hat z. which are occasionaHj received 
with shipments of t achinids 
from abroad. None of 
them i> of any importance 
whatever in this connec- 
tion, from the point of 
view gained through the 
st udy of t he material col- 
lected and sent under the 
condit ions which have pre- 
vailed in the past. Some- 
times when lots of loose 
puparia have been shipped 
as such, loosely packed, 
two or three among them 
have produced a colony of 
Dibrachys or some other 
parasite of similar size and 
habits, and these individ- 
uals have immediately set 
about the propagation of 
their species with such good efl'ect as to bring about the destruction 
of the larger part of the remaining puparia. 
No serious effort has as yet been made to sort the Chalcidida* thus 
reared to species, much less to determine their specific identity. 
Fig. Zo.—Blepharipa scuiellata: Adult female. 
(Original.) 
Enlarged. 
BLEPHAKTPA BCUTELLATA DESV. 
Among t he t achinid parasites of the gipsy moth caterpillars or the 
brown-tail moth caterpillars, Blepliaripa scutellata (fig. 35) is the 
most conspicuous representative of the group characterized by the 
habit of depositing eggs (figs. 36 and 37) upon the foliage of trees or 
other plants frequented by its host with the deliberate intention that 
they shall be devoured. It is also an exceedingly close ally to the 
