72 OHIO BIOLOGICAIv SURVEY 



noted from these quotations from his "British FHes" pp. 556 and 559: 

 "Serious damage was done in Cornwall on A^ara'ssics bulbs in October, 

 1896, when one gardener alone had been compelled to destroy several 

 thousand bulbs of A^irr/ss/ while man}^ other records have been given in 

 recent years of similar damage done near London and in other districts 

 where bulbs are extensively cultivated. 



"Mr. McLachlan gives the following interesting note on the breeding 

 of this .species in England (Entom. Month. Mag. XXXI. p. 114): — 'The 

 undoubted fact that Jl/erodon is becoming more common here than it was 

 formerly, is, no doubt, mainh^ due to the large importations of bulbs of 

 Narcissus from the South of Europe. A friend of mine, a noted horticul- 

 turist, never observed any signs of the ravages of its larvae until after 

 having purcha.sed, in an unlucky moment, a bag of imported bulbs; .since 

 then it has occasioned great damage in his garden. It will feed on many 

 kinds of bulbs. Recently it came under my notice as destroying tho.se 

 of Eiirvdes, an Australian genus. Bulbs of Narcissus (and probably of 

 other plantsj), that have been attacked by Aferodon, but not killed out- 

 right, are found next season to have divided theni.selves into a varying 

 number of healthy smaller bulbs, so that, to some extent, the attacks of 

 the larvae form a means of propagation.' " 



Osten Sacken, Cat. 135, notes the occa.sional importation to North 

 America of larvae in bulbs from Europe. 



Syritta — Howard, Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci. II, 597. '\Syritta pipiens 

 Linn. The larvae of insects of this genus live in horse-dung and cow- 

 dung in Europe. This species has been reported by We.stwood as breed- 

 ing in horse-dung and by Scholtz in cow-dung. The only specimen noted 

 in the cour.se of this investigation was taken in a privy at Newport, 

 Oregon, by Dr. Hopkins." 



Xylota — "The metamorphoses are sufficiently known to cause a 

 belief that the larvae live in rotting wood." — Verrall, British Flies p. 597. 



Daecke, Ent. News, XIV, 275, found larvae of A'^. pigra under the 

 bark of a pine tree. They emerged as adults from May 25 to June 15. 



John.son, Psyche, Vol. 13, pp. 2, 3, PI. I, Figs. 5 and 6 gives the 

 following on A^i'/o/rt'/'/^'vv?: "While searching beneath the bark of pine 

 logs, I found the larvae of this species in considerable numbers. It fre- 

 quented the wet bark near the ground where there was more or less fer- 

 mentation of the sappy portions of the wood and bast. The larva is about 

 14 mm. in length, of a dirty yellow or brownish color with ten or eleven 

 ill-defined rugosely wrinkled segments, covered with short hairs which are 

 souiewhat longer on the sides. The first segment is armed on each side 



