412 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



the b-urrows of wood -boring ihsects of the genus Anthaxia, and 

 the slender, first larvae are provided with six, leg-like, prehensile 

 organs. They work their way to the mouth of the burrow, place 

 themselves in an up right position, and allow themselves to be blown 

 away by -the wind, when, attaching, themselves firmly to the hairs 

 of beetles of the genus Rhizotrogus, they are carried into the 

 ground when the female enters to deposit her eggs, where they 

 wait patiently for the hatching of the beetle egg and for the 

 partial growth of the beetle larva and then attack and destroy it. 



In the family Conopidae there are a few truly parasitic forms, 

 the larvae being found in the abdomen of living bees and wasps. 

 One species is known in the larva state only, in which it is par 

 asitic in the head of ants. The flies of this family may, in 

 fact, be likened in their general parasitic habits to the Stylopidae 

 in the Coleoptera, except that both sexes are winged. The 

 larva usually infests bees and bumble-bees, or even locusts, 

 and these die only when it is about to transform. The fe 

 male Conops pursues the victim designed for her young in 

 order to attach thereto an egg or even a newly hatched larva. 

 The egg hatches and the larva probably burrows immediately 

 into the abdominal cavity of the host insect, since it is found 

 in this situation when nearly full-grown. It must feed upon 

 non-vital portions until nearly ready for transformation, and it 

 finally escapes, in the adult form, through an opening made be 

 tween the abdominal rings. The Conops is doubtless aided in 

 its pursuit of Hymenopterous insects by its superficial resem 

 blance to the latter, while the lengthy ovipositor of Stylogaster, of 

 the family Conopidae, is probably of use in attaching the egg 

 while both parasite and host are on the wing. 



Among the Syrphidae the larvae of Volucella are parasitic upon 

 bumble-bees in a cuckoo-like fashion and are well known for 

 their striking mimicry, in general appearance, of the bees they 

 affect, and which they are thus able to deceive and take advantage 

 of. A few of the gall-midges (Cecidomyiidae) are also parasitic 

 in the larva state upon Coccids and Aphidids. 



In the Sarcophagidae we have, as in the common Sarcophaga 

 carnaria, evidences of partial parasitism, for, while the species 

 usually breeds in dead or decomposing animal matter, it often 

 attacks other insects while these are yet alive. This is, to some 



