F. B. Browne 
369 
Before beginning oviposition upon the surface of a suitable host, the female 
punctures the host one or more times with her ovipositor and apparently 
injects an anaesthetizing fluid, since insect larvae and pupae, upon which eggs 
have been laid, very rarely develop farther and yet remain fresh for a con¬ 
siderable time extending to many months. 
With regard to reproduction, inbreeding appears to be normal, mating 
usually taking place between two individuals of the same brood and later 
between the female and one of her own offspring. Virgin females, unable to 
find a male, lay a few eggs, which always produce males, the first of which 
to emerge mates with the female. 
The female is very prolific and may lay as many as twelve hundred eggs in 
two or three batches, mating taking place before each batch is laid. The last 
eggs of a batch are almost invariably male eggs, indicating that the female 
has exhausted her supply of spermatozoa. 
A virgin female, whose eggs are removed so that she cannot rear a mate, 
may lay as many as ninety eggs during her life-time, her length of life being 
more than doubled, and such a female will survive through the winter, even 
withstanding frost, whereas fertilized females apparently all die in October 
or November at the latest. 
All the eggs of a virgin female are apparently capable of developing and 
all such eggs produce males. 
XV. Bibliography. 
Ashmead, W. H. (1893). Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, n. 228-232. 
Giraud, J. (1869). Note biologique sur la Melittobia audouinii. Ann. Soc. Ent. France, ix.... 
Giratjlt, A. A. (1912). A New Melittobia from Queensland, Australia. Psyche , xix.... 
Graham-Smith, G. S. (1915, 16). Observations on the habits and parasites of common 
flies. Parasitology, vin. 532-534. 
- (1918, 19). Observations, etc., etc. Ibid. xi. 360-371. 
Howard, L. O. (1892). The habits of Melittobia. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, n. 244-248. 
Howard, L. O. and Fiske, W. F. (1911). Report of Progress on the introduction of Parasites 
of the Gipsy and Brown-tail Moths into U.S.A. U.S. Dep. Agric. Bureau Ent. Bull. 91, 
pp. 209-212. 
Malyshev, S. I. (1911). Zur Biologie der Odynerus-Arten und ihrer Parasiten. Horae Soc. 
Ent. Rossicae, xl. No. 2. 
Morley, C. (1910). Catalogue of Chalcididae [synonymy of M. acasta\ 
Newport, G. (1855). The Anatomy and Development of certain Chalcidae and Ichneu- 
monidae, etc., with descriptions of a new Genus and species of Bee-parasite. Trans. 
Linn. Soc. xxi. 61. 
- (1855). Further notes on the genus Anthophorabia. Ibid. 79-83. 
Reaumer, R. A. F. de (1742). Mem. pour servir a Vhistoire naturelle et a V anatomic des 
Insectes, vi. part 1. 98. 
Smith, F. (1853). Melittobia acasta. Trans. Ent. Soc. London, n.s. n. 248. 
Walker, F. (1839). Monographia Chalcididae, Add. 328. 155, Cirrospilus acasta. 
Waterston, J. (1917). Notes on the Morphology of Chalcidoidea bred from Calliphora. 
Parasitology, ix. 190-198. 
Westwood, J. 0. (1847). Proc. Ent. Soc. London, p. xviii. 
- (1849). Ibid. p. 65. 
