PARASITES HIBERNATING IN BROWN-TAIL WEBS. 
279 
tion of hibernating nests in the spring of 1907 they were placed in 
these cages and fed. As a result of his enforced absence from the 
laboratory at a critical period these cages lacked the proper atten- 
tion, and things went wrong with many of them. A few, however, 
were measurably successful, and eventually about 1,000 of the 
Apanteles were reared and colonized. Met corns was discovered to 
have similar hibernating habits, and Zygobothria was also reared 
under circumstances which were sufficient to indicate its hibernating 
habits to the satisfaction of the junior author of this bulletin, but 
not to that of the senior. The Apanteles, in accordance with what 
was then the policy of the laboratory with regard to parasite coloniza- 
tion, were liberated in no less than three widely separated localities. 
None of the colonies, so far as known, was successful. 
As anyone who was unfortu- 
nate enough to be associated 
with the laboratory during the 
spring and summer of 1907 will 
undoubtedly be willing to 
testify, the discomfort caused by 
handling quantities of caterpil- 
lars and cocoons of the brown- 
tail moth was literally dread- 
ful. The poisonous spines upon 
the young caterpill a rs are 
neither so abundant nor BO viru- 
lent as those upon the older 
caterpillars, but they are bad 
enough, and the task of feeding 
the inmates of the numerous 
cajres which contained some 
Fig. f.7. — Aj>anta 
It female and co- 
coon. Much enlarged. (Original.) 
thousands was a t ask of no lit t le 
magnitude and one involving much physical discomfort. The instant 
the door of one of these cages was opened, if the day was warm and its 
occupants active, a variable, but usually a large number would crawl 
outside, and to attempt to brush them back was but to aiTord op- 
portunity for more to escape. Consequently thousands did escape 
and had to be brushed up and destroyed after each day's feeding. 
To keep the cages clear of debris was well-nigh out of the question, 
and every time that some attempt was made to clean them out more 
thousands of caterpillars escaped and had to be destroyed. 
When the Apanteles and the Meteorus cocoons were discovered to 
be present in variable abundance in several of the cages trouble began 
in earnest, because they were for the most part firmly attached to 
the sides, or cunningly concealed in the midst of an accumulation of 
unconsumed food, so that much time was required to find and remove 
