HYMENOPTEROUS PARASITES OF ALETIA. 
Ill 
"August 20, on the under side of a lower leaf (cotton), I fpund 
two dipterous maggots, each about three lines long and apparently 
identical with those found eating the pupa of Aletia, On this leaf 
were no other living objects, except a few initiate Aphids. The mag- 
gots were busily exploring the surface of the leaf, raking it with their 
jaw-hooks, but without cutting the epidermis. To one of the maggots I 
gave the crushed body of a hemipteron, upon which it fed for a short 
time only. I then gave it one-half of the body of a caterpillar, which 
it immediately entered from the ruptured end and began feeding rav- 
enously. The other maggot I placed upon the body of a living cater- 
pillar. It at once took hold with its hook and began to twist its body 
round and round like a gimlet. The caterpillar winced several times, 
and five minutes later it plucked the maggot off with its jaws and 
jerked it to such a distance that it fell clear off the leaf and upon the 
ground. The maggot appeared to be injured, and afterwards refused to 
take hold when replaced upon the caterpillar. The other maggot was 
placed upon the body of a living caterpillar, but was thrown off again 
without securing a hold. I afterwards killed a caterpillar by pinching, 
without rapturing its head, but this the maggot refused to bore into. 
These maggots were afterwards fed upon Aletia pap®, which at first I 
had to crush for them. When nearly full grown, having been accidentally 
overlooked and ill supplied with food, I found each in the act of eating 
the other, and, of course, both died." 
Issuing from the Chrysalis. — The foregoing species issue in the larva or 
maggot state mostly from the worm, and usually undergo their trans- 
formations independently of their host. All the other parasites yet to 
be mentioned undergo their transformations within the chrysalis and 
gnaw their way out of the more or less completely emptied shell as per- 
fect insects. The Aletia is attacked, however, in the larva state, the 
parent parasite stinging and laying her eggs beneath the skin of the 
worm, the parasitic larva? affecting the vital parts only after the trans- 
formation of the victim to the chrysalis state. 
The Watchful Pimpla. — This species (Pimpla conquisitor, Say 38 ) 
sometimes destroys from 15 to 20 per cent, of the last brood of Aletia, 
and the chrysalides that are whole and that appear sound or alive 
after a good frost are found to contain its larva or papa in still greater 
proportion. It has been obtained from Aletia from all parts of the South, 
and by most of the observers and agents of the Commission, the fly issu- 
ing sometimes in the fall, but mostly in spring. It is a black, four-winged 
fly, varying in length from one-fourth to one-half of an inch, and may be 
distinguished from other native species of the genus Pimpla by having 
the margins of the abdominal segments white. The exserted ovipositor 
does not exceed one-half the length of the abdomen, and the male may 
be recognized by the absence of an ovipositor and by his more slender 
body. Say reared the species from a follicle of a case-bearing Bombycid 
moth with transparent wings, probably the common Bag Worm {Thyri- 
