OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XVIII, 1916 173 



Bureau files and labels of Museum specimens; from the rotting 

 parts of root of a melon which had previously been killed by a 

 fungoid disease, from Ohio; from pieces of roots of Astrai/ulii* 

 molissimus from Colorado. Puparia of this species were collected 

 by Mr. Schwarz at Jackson, Miss., under the bark of dead and 

 dying pine trees. To this list should be added the fact that dur- 

 ing the past season it has been found in large numbers in moist 

 bran and in bran-manure mixture. 



Very little is known as to the developmental periods of this fly. 

 From unpublished notes in the Bureau of Entomology we earn that 

 Mr. Coquillett observed a female ovipositing in a hole in a fallen ap- 

 ple, the hole having been made by a larva of Carpocapsa pomonella. 

 Upon cutting open the apple he found 36 eggs scattered about in 

 the cavity, about a dozen being placed on end in a cluster, the 

 others scattered about, lying on one of their sides. This was on 

 September 10, 1888, and the first larva pupated on November 8. 

 Allowing two days for the egg stage this would give a larval period 

 of 57 days. On one of Dr. Howard's experiments there was a 

 developmental period of 27 days. The writer's experience dur- 

 ing the last summer indicates a larval period of from 12 to 14 

 days, shortened no doubt by the high temperature of the fer- 

 menting bran in which they were feeding. The pupal period lasts 

 from 7 to 12 days. In Mr. Colquillett's notes there is recorded 

 one 8-day and one 10-day period. 



The following notes on the behavior of these larvae may be of 

 some interest, as nothing has heretofore been published on this 

 subject. 



The larvae of Euxesta notata do not seem to be quite so strongly 

 negative in their reaction to light as are the larvae of many other 

 Diptera. At least they were seen more frequently and in greater 

 numbers on the surface of the moist bran and the bran-manure 

 mixture. Some larvae of practically all the species which were 

 breeding in these materials were to be found on the surface in 

 full view on warm cloudy days after a rain, or early in the morn- 

 ing before the sun was high. The Euxesta larvae were seen in 

 great numbers at such times, and also some of them would appear 

 on the surface during the brightest parts of the daj r . 



When present on the surface of the medium they exhibit a very 

 curious leaping habit, similar to that of the cheese skipper. They 

 bend the body in a loop, apparently seizing the stalks of the pos- 

 terior stigmata or a fold in the chitin around the anal area by 

 means of the mandibular hooks, and then unbend with a sudden- 

 ness that hurls them through the air for a distance of from 1 to 

 5 inches. 



They appear to be vegetable feeders as a rule, but one case 

 came under the writer's observation in which some of them were 



