142 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, 'iS 



The latter will probably prove to have similar larval habits. 

 Mycctophila merdigcra, according to the table of Johannsen 

 (Fungus gnats of No. Amer., Part IV, 1912, p. 84) falls to- 

 gether with M. e.rstincta Loew from the eastern United States ; 

 perhaps this last suedes also will prove to have a similar life- 

 history and our collectors should watch for these very re- 

 markable larvae. 



In conclusion attention must be called to the existence of 

 dung-bearing larvae in the closely related genus Epicypta. 

 Such larvae were recorded by Bremi* and by Ferris** as early 

 as 1846 and 1847. The latter gives a detailed and very inter- 

 esting account of the early stages of Epicypta scatophora (Per- 

 ris) ; Osten Sacken is of the opinion that Bremi had the same 

 species under observation. These larvse feed upon fungi occur- 

 ring upon dead wood and cover themselves much more com- 

 pletely with their own dung. They finally pupate within an urn- 

 shaped cocoon of the same material. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE VIII. 

 Mycetophila merdigcra Knab and Van Zvval., n. sp. 



(Photographs by J. H. Paine.) 

 i. Adult male. 2. Cocoon, top view. 3. Cocoon, side view. 



Mycctophila ancyliformans Holmgr. 



(After Holmgren.) 

 4. Larva, lateral view. 5. Mandible of larva. 6. Maxilla of larva. 



Beetle, Hippomelas sphenicus, Prey of Wasp (Col.). 



While collecting on the desert near Barstow about May 15, 1917, a 

 large black-bodied, yellow-winged wasp was taken in my net. The 

 wasp was found to be carrying a small specimen of Hippomelas spli'~i- 

 cus LeConte. This was remarkable, for H. splicnict{s has never been 

 reported from California. The wasp may have carried it from Arizona, 

 a distance of about 140 miles, although that point is debatable. The 

 size of the beetle very closely approximated that of the wasp, which 

 was a very large specimen. It is a well-known fact that wasps collect 

 and store their nests with various Coleoptera ; specimens of Hippn- 

 niclas calif onticits Horn in my collection, taken by Dr. F. E. Blaisdell 

 in 1885, were found in a wasps' nest at Poway, San Diego County. 

 RICHARD T. GARNETT, Oakland, California. 



*Isis von Oken, vol. 39, 1846, p. 169. 



**Notes pour servir a 1'histoire des metamorphoses de diverses 

 especes de Dipteres. I. Notice sur une larve de Mycetophila qui se 

 couvre de ses excrements. Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 2 Ser., vol. 7, 

 pp. 51-61, pi. 3, no. I, figs. 1-13 (1847). 



