452 W. WESCHE ON 1HE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE TACHINID FLY, 



the males were present in greater numbers, about two to one 

 female. The latter, like most of the Tachinidae that I am 

 familiar with, had none of that restless energy that sometimes 

 characterises the predaceous insects, particularly the Ichneu- 

 monidae. In fact, as I said before, it was always seen in a 

 position of rest ; but there are moments in its life when it 

 must exert a very violent energy. 



So much for its general characters ; as to the microscopical, 

 for the convenience of my readers I will recapitulate some of 

 the facts that I have recorded in previous papers. The female 

 is provided with a relatively very large, strong, sharply pointed 

 hook, not at all unlike a sting, which is folded back under the 

 abdomen, and lies when not in use in the median line (Fig. 1). 

 Besides this there are chitinous ventral plates which are cleft, 

 and allow the hook to rest on the soft membrane of the stomach. 

 These plates are strongly spined along their outer edges, not 

 with ordinary sharp setae, but with very strong knife-like 

 structures. This is a very striking feature, and suggested 

 Rondani's name of " serrive7itris" a much more descriptive de- 

 signation than Meigen's " concinnata " ; as I shall show later, 

 the ideas of neatness and prettiness of appearance are lost 

 when we come to regard the application of the specialisations 

 on the abdomen.* 



When examining these curious structures on my preparations, 

 I noticed the jaws of larvae, and was thus able to establish the 

 fact, which is well known of some other groups of flies, that 

 Phorocera serriventris is viviparous and brings forth living larvae, 

 not laying eggs like the vast majority of insects. In a single 

 female, certainly of full size, I counted ninety-eight jaws of 

 larvae, and probably some were hidden under the numerous 



The synonyms of this insect are very numerous and fill a page of a 

 Hungarian catalogue. I regret that the misdirected energy of some person 

 has unearthed a clumsy generic name of Bouche, 1834, Comjjsilura; and 

 the many times renamed fly is in future to be known as Compsilura 

 nnirluiiata, Meigen. Why cannot nomenclature, like bad debts, have a 

 Statute of Limitations ? 



