164 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



and approximated to the fifth ventrite during a state of rest 

 that it becomes almost invisible, even on close inspection 

 with a lens. 



Group VIII. Species introducing naked maggots or mag- 

 gots in choria into the bodv of the host bv means of a com- 



* s~^ 



bined instrument of perforation and injection. Lercoin\ia 

 cnm'cauda is cited as the sole representative of this group. 

 It is stated to have a uterus and maggots very similar to those 

 of Compsilura, with the eggs and maggots in single file in 

 the uterus. The terminal apparatus of the female abdomen 

 is believed to signify subcutaneous larviposition by means of 

 a slender organ which acts at the same time as piercer and 

 injector. 



Group IX. Species deprived of incubating apparatus, but 

 provided with chitinous ovipositor of variable form, apparently 

 for introducing the undeveloped eggs into the host. The 

 author here places three subgroups, the first including Alo- 

 phot'a, Hyalomyia, and AVs/tf; the second comprising the 

 Conopidae, and the third doubtfully including Ocyptera. The 

 Conopidse are taxonomically outside of our subject, but their 

 probable possession of such habit is of much interest. They 

 are simply grouped here by the author for convenience of 

 treatment from a parasitic point of view. 



A dissection of Alophora which I made in 1908 suggested 

 to me the very possibility here outlined by Pantel, that of sub- 

 cutaneous oviposition. I have mentioned in my last paper 

 that the female possessed in this case a piercer-like organ 

 curved in the opposite direction from that of Compsilura. 

 The eggs were undeveloped. Not having opportunity to dis- 

 sect further material so as to demonstrate conclusively the 

 uterine characters, I have been loath to advance the theory of 

 subcutaneous oviposition. Pantel, however, has carefully 

 dissected Alophora, ffyalomyta, and A"v5fo, and pronounces 

 them without incubating uterus, thus excluding the possi- 

 bility of larviposition. This being the case, it seems quite 

 evident that subcutaneous oviposition is here the habit, since, 

 as the author points out, the eggs are totally uuadapted for ex- 

 ternal attachment to the host. Pantel deserves the credit for 

 first suggesting if not establishing the existence of this type. 



I can add that Hemyda aurata and Penthosia satanica both 

 appear to have the same peculiar eggs, and I believe it prob- 

 able that both have a subcutaneous oviposition habit. 



I do not think that Ocyptera comes here. A female which 

 I dissected in 1908 exhibited a uterus containing elongate 

 eggs, some of which showed developing maggots. 



