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STUDIES IX LIFK-IUf^TORIKS OF .U'sTUALIAN DIPTKRA BRACHYCERA, 1., 



ceps witliiii a lew liuiirs (if her capture on the morning of the IGth April. 

 Owing to an aeeiJontal delay in transmission, they did not reach me for nearly 

 three weeks, during which time they had become shrivelled and dry, and, though 

 kept undisturbed for another month, they failed to hatch out. 



Attempts to seciu'e further batches of eggs, by confining the two sexes '.n 

 breeding cage* containing grass sods, all proved unsuccessful. It was found that 

 the flies, for the most part, remained nK)tionless in the one position from the 

 time they were put into the cage until their death, a period varying from three 

 to ten days; and no case of ovijiosition was observed. 



In the following November Mr. Hardy directed my attention to the re- 

 appearance of M. rubriceps on a grass plot behind the Australian Museum, with 

 the suggestion that this might prove a natural breeding ground for it. 



Te.\t-fif;.l. Larva of Metoponiix rubriceps Macq. Dorsal view, (x 10). 

 Text-fig. 2. ,, ., Ventral view, (x 10). 



Text-fig.3. M. rubriceps. 9 emerging from larval skin, (x 6J). 



Text-fig. 4. Hf. rubriceps. Empty larval skin of f;^. (x 6J). 



Text-fig. 4(7. Detached 'hoail cap' of larval skin, (x lij). 



Here a small sloping bank thirty feet long by twelve feet wide, in the middle 

 of an asjihalted courtyard, has been formed by laying down sandy black loam, 

 to a depth of one to two feet, on a rubble foundation of broken bricks and 

 stones, and planted with paspalum and coucli grass, interspersed with dandelion 

 plants and other weeds. It is kept well tended, and always contains a fair 



