THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



defective cover on the breeding box, eight flies had emerged previous to this 

 date and had escaped. Altogether 18 flies emerged from the 42 pupa^, up to July 

 22nd, leaving a balance of 24 to be accounted for. Exactly one month later, 

 hymenopterous parasites commenced to emerge from these remaining pupae, 

 and during the last week of August 16 appeared. Of the remaining eight pupae 

 probably some are dead, but possibly a few may carry over until the following 

 summer. Through the courtesy of Dr. L. O. Howard, to whom specimens were 

 sent, this parasite was referred to Mr. A. B. Gahan of the U. S. Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, who reports that it is a new species of Opius (Vipionidse) and will be 

 described by him at a later date. 



The adult fly has been taken by the writer in the city of Victoria and all 

 over the Saanich Peninsula wherever its host plant, the Snowberry, grows, the 

 earliest date of capture being July 11th, and the larvae have been found in the 

 berries at various points on the Mainland, including Agassiz, Lillooet, Lytton, 

 Chase, Armstrong, Vernon, Penticton, Creston and Nelson. 



The Snowberry is a very common shrub all over the drier parts of the Coast 

 and interior of British Columbia. The clusters of pure white berries are very 

 conspicuous along the country roads in the early fall, but among them will be 

 seen numbers that are brown, and shrunken. These are berries that have 

 been eaten out by the maggot, the proportion of infested berries on a bush 

 often running as high as fifty per cent. As a rule, only one maggot is found 

 in a berry, but occasionally a fly will deposit an egg in a berry that already 

 contains a maggot, as berries have been found containing two larvae, in widely 

 dift'erent stages of growth. If the berry should be a small one and happen to 

 be touching another as is frequently the case, the maggot will leave the small 

 berry when it has eaten out the pulp and enter the adjoining one and complete 

 its growth there. The Symphoricarpus berries that are attacked by the fly do 

 not drop to the ground, and the maggots remain in the fruit until the last vestige 

 of pulp has been eaten. Later they bore through the now shrunken and dis- 

 coloured skin and pupate among the dead leaves and humus below the bushes. 

 In its selection of bushes on which to oviposit the fly shows a decided preference 

 for those growing on high and dry spots, stunted bushes growing on hillsides 

 generally having the heaviest infestation. The species is evidently very 

 abundant and widely distributed, but it is seldom indeed that the adults are 

 seen, the experience of the writer being identical in this respect with that of Mr. 

 William C. Woods (6) with regard to the variety prevalent in blueberries in 

 Maine. Although collecting was carried on very frequently through the sum- 

 mer, less than half a dozen adult flies were taken by the writer in 1918. The 

 explanation of this probably lies in the fact that the flies are exceedingly active 

 and shy, and the advent of a collector with a sweeping net is sufficient to scare 

 most of them away from his vicinity. The only times the writer has had the 

 opportunity of watching the flies at close range have been when they have 

 alighted on the leaves of the Burdock (Arctium minus). They have been seen 

 to alight on the broad leaves of this plant and walk about, applying the labella 

 here and there to the leaf surface. They do not sta}' long, however, and at the 

 least movement on the part of the observer they make off^. 



In commenting on this species. Dr. Aldrich, to whom I am indebted for the 

 identification of the flies and notes on its distribution, says: "They are slightly 



