114 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
large native silkworms, Callosamia promethea, Samia. cccropia, and An- 
thercea polyphemus, from the cocoons of which it emerges in the Northern 
States early in the spring, a considerable number of the parasites ap- 
pearing from a single cocoon. 
A female specimen from Aletia has the head and thorax black, the 8th-10th joints 
of the antennae white, the palpi black, the legs including all the coxae red, with the 
tips of the posterior femora and of the posterior tibiae black, and the posterior tarsi 
tinged with brown. The first four joints of the abdomen are entirely red, the suc- 
ceeding joints and the sheaths of the ovipositor black, the ovipositor itself reddish; 
the apical joints, of the abdomen have a white 
spot above. Eelying upon the length of the 
ovipositor as a character for separating nuncius, 
Say, 'from samia;, Pack.,( 3!) ) the female of the 
present species may be distinguished by the 
ovipositor being much shorter than the abdo- 
men, as shown in Fig. 41, b ; Fig. 41, a repre- 
senting Cryptus samice. Fig. 41 c indicates the 
form of the abdomen in the male. 
The Ovate Chalcis (Fig. 42).— In 
the next family (Clialcididcu) to the 
Ichneumonidce, to which the preceding 
three species belong, we have two par- 
asites which issue from the pupa, the 
larger and more abundant of which is 
the Ovate Chalcis (Chalcis ovata Say). 
It is one of the largest of the North 
American Chalcids, measuring 5 mm in 
length, and may be readily distin- 
guished from the other Cotton Worm parasites by its swollen hind thighs 
and by the glassy appearance of its abdomen. The species is also easily 
distinguished by the hind thighs being black, with a yellow spot at tip, 
and by the tegulse being entirely yellow. The species is widespread 
in the United States, and occurs also in Mexico and the West Indies. 
We have reared it from Aletia chrysalides collected by Professor Willet 
in Georgia, Professor Comstock in Alabama, Mr. Schwarz in Texas, Dr. 
Anderson in Mississippi, and by us in the first-mentioned State and in 
North Carolina ; while we have likewise reared it from Desmia maculalis 
(the Grape leaf-folder), in Missouri, and found it commonly infesting 
the chrysalides of certain Hackberry-feeding worms (Apatura lycaon, 
Fabr., and A. lierse, Fabr.) in several of the Southern States. 
Unlike the Watchful Pimpla, the Ovate Chalcis seems to be almost 
equally abundant throughout the season, increasing but little towards 
fall. Mr. Schwarz is of the opinion that the species is perhaps more 
abundant in Texas than in Alabama, and that only full-grown worms 
or possibly, occasionally, a newly-formed chrysalis, are attacked. He 
arrived at this latter conclusion from the fact that in all the chrysalides 
examined which contained the full-grown parasitic larva 1 the moth was 
already formed and its abdomen destroyed, while the young parasitic, 
larvae were always found in apparently healthy chrysalides where the 
Fig. 41.— Cryptus samia': a, female; b, fe- 
male abdomeu of G. nuncius ; c, male abdomen ; 
d, highly magnified piece of wing — hair-line 
showing natural length. (After Rile}'.) 
