416 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Nov., 'lO 



boxes, and it is more apt to become sour or moldy. Then, 

 too, the larvae have hardly begun to pupate before very tiny 

 flies begin to appear in large numbers. These are Phoridae, 

 and it seems as if they must be parasites, as only a very small 

 number of green bottle pupae come to maturity ; in one case 

 only four out of twenty-five, in another three out of forty 

 and again none where there were at least one hundred larvae. 

 Eleven days after beginning to pupate perfect flies ap- 

 peared and continued to struggle out of the ground for five 

 days. How are these small insects able to make their way 

 out of such hard cases and through all that solid earth? The 

 head of the fly is formed at the end of the case, and wher* 

 ready to emerge forces open this cap which splits into two 

 parts, one or both parts of which often fall off; it does this 

 by means of a sort of bladder-like organ the ptilinum, which 

 projects through the frontal suture. This assists him in his 

 journey to the light, but it is afterwards withdrawn into the 

 head and connot be seen. He comes out quite slowly, and at 

 this time and even for five minutes after emergence he may 

 be picked up with ease and will even rest on your hand for a 

 short time, yet those flies which hatched in the night would 

 nearly always escape were the glass covering raised but 

 slightly, so rapid are they in their movements. When they 

 first come out their wings are moist and uninflated, and they 

 seem fatigued by the great exertion they have made. It takes 

 flies but a very short time to fill their wings with air; they 

 are not like dragon-flies, which may be seen during May and 

 June on the grasses along the banks of the marshes and ponds 

 pumping air into their wings by means of violent movements 

 of the abdomen for nearly ten minutes before they can fly 

 away. All the broods of green-bottles raised were composed 

 of both males and females, the latter being more in number. 

 The males may be told by their smaller size and nearly con- 

 tiguous eyes. In both, the thorax and abdomen are of a 

 bright green color, their compound eyes are wine-colored and 

 are outlined with a narrow line of white ; they are more oval 

 in the male than in the female, and the white line is less con- 



