214 
PARASITES OF GIPSY AND BROWN-TAIL MOTHS. 
Fig. M— Blepharipa scutellata: 
Eggs in situ on fragment of 
leaf. Enlarged. (Original.) 
known. 
Japanese Crossocosmia sericarix, which was the subject of the original 
investigations by Dr. Sasaki through which this peculiar habit was 
discovered. The full life of the fly from the deposition of the eggs to 
the issuance of the adult, some 10 or 1 1 months later, has been the sub- 
ject of a special series of investigations by Mr. W. R. Thompson, who, 
it is expected, will shortly publish the results of his studies. 
It is worthy of note that the results of Dr. 
Sasaki's observations have been abundantly 
confirmed in very nearly every respect in which 
there is not an actual difference between the 
habits of Blepharipa and those of Crossocosmia. 
Each female fly is capable of depositing sev- 
eral thousands of eggs upon the foliage of trees 
frequented by the caterpillars of the chosen 
host, but it is not known to what extent she 
employs discretionary powers in the selection 
of these trees. Presumably she is attracted 
to those upon which the host caterpillars are 
most abundant. Whether one sort of tree is 
more attractive to them than another is not 
The young larvae hatching from the eggs which have 
escaped maceration by the mandibles of the caterpillars pass through 
the wall of the alimentary canal and immediately proceed to take 
full advantage of the physiological changes brought about in the 
host organism as the direct result of their presence. There are two 
larval ecdyses and three larval stages (as is the case with every other 
parasite of which the transfor- 
mations are sufficiently well 
known to make any statement 
possible), and the manner of life 
undergoes a change with each 
ecdysis. 
The first-stage larva embeds 
itself in the tissues of the host, 
which apparently react jn a man- 
ner somewhat suggestive of the 
reaction which results in the 
growth of a vegetable gall fol- 
lowing attack by a gall-making 
insect. The drawings of these 
gall-like bodies containing the larvae (fig. 38), as well as the drawings 
of the egg and of the second-stage larval "funnel" were prepared 
under the direction of Mr. Thompson as illustrations for his forth- 
coming paper. 
The second-stage larva undergoes a complete change in its manner 
of life, and its activities result in the formation of a tracheal "funnel," 
Fig. 37.— a, Egg of Blepharipa scutellata, showing 
characteristic sculpture and markings; b, egg of 
Pales pavida. Greatly enlarged. (Original.) 
