CHALCIDCE. 
173 
The details of the life history of the group as a whole are very varied 
but most are parasites in eggs, larvae or pupae of almost all groups of in¬ 
sects including the Hymenoptera ; some are hyperparasites, i.e., lay their 
eggs in the bodies of parasitic larvae which are already in the bodies of 
other insects; others are found in galls, as parasites ; a few are fig insects 
living in peculiar gall-like structures in the fruit of wild figs; the greater 
number are parasites purely, and though the details of their life history 
would probably be of great interest if we knew them, practically nothing 
is known and we are probably sufficiently accurate in estimating the 
family as an important one owing to its role of general insect parasite. 
The life history of no Indian species has really been studied and the 
utmost we know in most cases is that the imagines have been reared from 
particular insects. There are abundant points of great interest in the 
lives of these tiny insects ; how do the imagines live when their host is 
not available; how do they hibernate, on what do they feed, when do 
they fly ? How does the larva manage inside the body of a caterpillar 
and how does it get its air or dispose of its excreta, or moult ? What is 
going on inside a caterpillar when there are perhaps twenty larvae in it 
or as in some cases there are over 600 ? What are the details of the 
moults of the hyperparasites ? One could continue enumerating points 
on which practically nothing is known at all, and absolutely nothing in 
India. Dalla Torre’s catalogue enumerates about thirty species from 
our region ; Cameron has added others (Jo. Bo. Nat. Hist. Soc., XVII, 
578, etc.), a very large number have been and will be added to this, and 
it would be in no way surprising if Chalcidce were found to be the 
family of which the greatest number of species occur in India. 
The identification of these numerous forms, principally unclassified 
and undetermined, is possible only when one studies this family alone. 
It is then useless to do more than mention a few common species as ex¬ 
amples of Chalcidce . The following species and their hosts are known 
in India :— 
Pentarthrum (Trichogramma) sp. is a tiny species reared from the 
eggs of Chilo simplex , Butl., the moth-borer of cane. A very high per¬ 
centage of the eggs of this moth are infested, and the parasite is a 
very valuable check. Tetrastichus sp. is reared from Chilo auricilia, 
Ddgn., and is probably in itself a hyperparasite upon the Braconid, 
