38 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Genus PARLATOREOPSIS Lindinger. Type, longispina Newst. 



Lindinger, Die Schildlausse, p. 191 (1912). 



Pseudoparlatoria argentata Hempel. 



Pseudoparlatoria argentata Hemp., Cat. Faun. Brazil, in, S. Paulo, pp. 

 51, 63 (1912). 



Habitat S. Paulo, Brazil. 

 On Aglnia sp. 



DIPTEROLOGICAL MISCELLANY. 



BY FREDERICK KNAB, Bureau of Entomology. 

 EVOLUTION OF THE BLOOD-SUCKING HABIT IN SYMPHOEOMYIA. 



In several families of Diptera the blood-sucking habit is un- 

 equally developed in different species. Thus, in the Culicidu- 

 we have within the same genus species that are aggressive blood- 

 suckers, others that apparently have but a weak craving for 

 blood, and still others that do not bite at all. Similar conditions 

 appear to obtain in the chironomid subfamily Ceratopogoninte. 

 while in the family Psychodida3 the blood-sucking habit is re- 

 stricted to the genus Phlebotomus-. 



The leptid genus Symphoromyia has been reported as a blood- 

 sucker several times, but, as its chief habitat is in the compara- 

 tively unsettled Rocky Mountain region, we have very little 

 exact information on the habits of the different species. Prof. 

 J. M. Aldrich, who has recently revised the genus, informs me 

 that two species appear to be the principal biters and that he 

 has only a single record for a third species. These data will 

 appear in a paper which Prof. Aldrich now has in press. Some 

 additional information has recently come to hand and the indi- 

 cations are that certain species of Symphoromyia are aggressive 

 biters, while others are in process of acquiring the blood-sucking 

 habit. Of course, it is possible that some of the inoffensive 

 species feed upon animals other than man and the large mammals. 

 A specimen and note recently sent in by W. H. Boyd of Cotton- 

 wood, British Columbia, adds a fourth species, Symphoromyia 

 pachyceras Will., to the list of blood-suckers. The interesting 

 part of the note is that it appears to show that this species i- 

 in a transition state. Mr. Boyd says that this species "bites 

 for itself on unprotected portions of animals, but seems to prefer 

 to take the blood oozing from a bite left by the larger fly" 

 (Tabanus). 



It must, however, be remembered that the species of Sym- 

 phoromyia are all similar in appearance and that the individuals 

 lapping the blood from wounds may belong to different species 



