ZOOLOGY. 



MEMOIRS ON SCOTTISH DIPTERA. 



By JAMES HARDY. 

 Secretary of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, &c. 



No. II— ANTHOMYIA SONCHI sp. nov. (The Sow-thistle Fly). 



/^\N the 22d of August I collected from the flowering heads 

 ^^ of the sow-thistle, Sonchus oleraceits, several examples of 

 maggots, one or two being found in each flower. They were feed- 

 ing on the young seeds, which being still tender and juicy, were 

 rapidly destroyed by them. I had previously noticed the same 

 attack made upon those of the common sow-thistle (Sonchus 

 arvensis), and had found similar maggots in the heads of the 

 long-rooted cat's-ear ( Hypochceris radicata). They entered the 

 pupa state shortly after being confined, and became flies the fol- 

 lowing year, about the beginning of July. 



The maggot \s white, shining, rather narrowish, spindle-shaped, 

 the segments distinct ; a series of foveas along each side ; a 

 clear dorsal internal line on the posterior part of the back ; 

 oral hooks large, black ; fore-stigmata, one on each side near 

 the hinder edge of the second segment, pale whitish ; hinder 

 end slightly narrowing, the apex sub-truncate ; the two stigmata 

 testaceous, not far apart, and not raised, their tips composed of 

 three united portions ; behind these a quadrituberculate ridge, 

 which is interrupted in the middle ; after which there is a round- 

 ish slope to the anus, which is situated beneath, in a wrinkle 

 behind a slight ridge; the ventral segments rather raised in the 

 centre. Length 2^ lines, breadth ?^ths of a line. The pupa- 

 rium is pale yellowish-brown, shining, darker at the tips, some- 

 what elliptic-oval, and rather narrow ; gradually narrowed pos 



