660 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXX, No. 7 
gradually shorter, the seventh as broad as long; 
club not distinctly segmented, as long as the three 
last segments of funicle combined; mesoscutum, 
axillae, and scutellum rather evenly and minutely 
reticulato-punctate; propodeum very faintly 
reticulate, strongly shining, with a median longi¬ 
tudinal carina; spur of middle tibia longer than 
first tarsal segment; abdomen shorter than thorax, 
narrowest at base, smooth and shining, with a very 
faint suggestion of sculpture posteriorly. Head 
greenish, more or less aeneous black on vertex; 
antennae black, scape yellow below; thorax greenish 
black, scutellum bronzy black; pleura with bluish 
or purplish reflections; propodeum green; wings 
hyaline; all coxae and femora, base of anterior and 
middle trochanters and the posterior femora, 
except at base, black; posterior trochanters, all 
tibiae, and tarsi pale yellow; abdomen bluish black. 
Described from many specimens reared from 
Porthetria dispar Linnaeus at the gipsy-moth 
laboratory 
HABITS OF ADULTS AND ABUNDANCE IN 
THE FIELD 
Investigations which have been 
made to determine whether the female 
Anastatus can fly have indicated that 
they can not. They jump well and 
are probably spread short distances by 
the wind. " The males, which issue 
from hibernation a few days before the 
females, are often seen flying about 
the colonization cans in which they 
were colonized, apparently waiting for 
the issuance of the females. 
Female Anastatus have been ob¬ 
served apparently feeding at the 
punctures they have made in gipsy- 
moth eggs, after oviposition or appar¬ 
ent oviposition. In laboratory experi¬ 
ments a mixture of about 40 per cent 
honey and 60 per cent water has been 
found the best food tried. 
During the last two weeks of July 
and the first week of August Anastatus 
adults are found quite abundantly on 
the gipsy-moth eggs, as in b of Figure 2, 
in most of the area within which this 
parasite has been generally colonized. 
In a few locations where the parasite 
is especially abundant practically every 
egg cluster will have from 1 to 7 or 8 
female Anastatus working on it, while 
many egg clusters have been observed 
with 10 to 15. As high as 22 female 
Anastatus have been seen on a single 
egg cluster. 
OVIPOSITION AND IMMATURE STAGES 
As soon as females of the gipsy moth 
begin their deposition of eggs in July, 
adults of Anastatus are present and 
occasionally are found on the abdomen 
of the female moth even before she 
begins to lay her eggs. When adults 
of Anastatus are abundant they begin 
parasitizing the gipsy-moth eggs 
almost as soon as they are laid and 
often five and six Anastatus are 
observed ovipositing in the eggs before 
the cluster is entirely deposited (fig. 
2 , 6 ). 
The Anastatus female requires less 
time for oviposition than does the 
Schedius. The time occupied by Ana¬ 
status females in ovipositing varies 
from 2 to 15 minutes, each oviposition 
averaging 4 or 5 minutes. S. M. 
Dohanian, an assistant at the labora¬ 
tory, while making field observations 
on Anastatus, saw a single female 
apparently oviposit 42 times in 2 hours 
and 15 minutes. 
The uterine egg, a hibernating larva, 
and a pupa of Anastatus are shown in 
Figure 6, b, c, d, and the larval man¬ 
dibles in Figure 6, e. The parasite egg 
hatches very soon after oviposition and 
the resulting parasite maggot develops 
quickly into the hibernating stage (fig. 
6, c; fig. 2, e), about three-weeks being 
required for the entire development 
from egg to full-grown larva. 
NUMBER OF GENERATIONS 
Normally, Anastatus has only a 
single generation. The adults issue 
from the gipsy-moth eggs over a con¬ 
siderable period. A few begin to ap¬ 
pear during the middle of June, and egg 
clusters collected as late as August 8, 
laid the previous year, have given adult 
Anastatus. 
Issuance of Anastatus adults in June 
and in the middle of August are ex¬ 
tremes. The main issuance of adults 
occurs during July, with the bulk of 
the Anastatus appearing during the last 
two weeks of that month. The dates 
vary with the season, but the heavy 
issuance occurs at about the time when 
the majority of the female gipsy moths 
are depositing egg clusters. The time 
spent by Anastatus within its host is 
usually about a year, although this 
period ranges in length from 10 to 13 
months. 
In some seasons a few Anastatus 
have two generations. Usually this is 
rare, but during the fall of 1921 it was 
commonly observed. Many egg col¬ 
lections received during the fall gave 
2 and 3 per cent of fall issuance of male 
and female Anastatus. In several ex¬ 
periments these were mated and the 
females oviposited readily in gipsy- 
moth eggs. These parasitized eggs 
were kept through the winter, and dur¬ 
ing the following summer adult Ana¬ 
status issued. In most cases they were 
males, but there is at least one record of 
both sexes maturing in the second gen¬ 
eration. 
The experiment here described was 
so unusual in its results that it is worth 
recording. On July 9, 1921, a small 
breeding tray was stocked with 1,278 
new gipsy-moth eggs. Honey-and- 
