THEODORE H. FKISON 153 



emerges from the i)up;iria of Physocephala xagiUariaHiiy, a cono- 

 ))id attackiiio; bumljlebecs, and strengthens my supposition as to 

 the identity of the eonopid enemy of Anthophora ahrupta. The 

 secoiuhiry pai'asites were first iioticed emerging from a small 

 hole in the cephalic end of the eonopid puparia on July 15. An 

 examination of eleven puparia on August 12 showed that five 

 were victimized by this small parasite. Five of the remaining 

 puparia were completely dried out on this date and one con- 

 tained a dead adult which was not sufficiently developed to 

 permit of identification as to genus or species. When I visited 

 the bee l)ank at Oakwood on July 11, 1919, I picked up forty- 

 nine additional Anthophora adults killed or nearly dead by 

 reason of eonopid parasitism. Some of the bees so killed were 

 laden with pollen. In some cases the bees found on the ground 

 were still able to walk around a little, and now and then would 

 move about by violent jerks. All such queer acting bees were 

 found to contain eonopid larvae. In such cases I found the 

 l)ody of the fly larva in the abdomen of the bee, with the long 

 iieck-like process bearing the mouth parts inserted through the 

 point of articulation of the abdomen and the thorax. Evidently 

 the bee lives for some time after the eonopid larva starts to de- 

 velop within the bee abdomen, but dies when the larva becomes 

 almost or full grown, and severs some of the vital organs and 

 nerve connections centered in the thorax and about the articu- 

 lation of the thorax and aljdomen. This probaljly explains the 

 contortions and nervous movements of the dying parasitized 

 bees. The eonopid larva forms a puparium within the abdomen 

 of its victim soon after the bee dies and probably in this stage 

 hibernates during the cold season, an^^vhere the bee hai)i)ens to 

 fall to the ground. As the duration of the life of the host bee 

 is comparatively short, the eonopid nuist have but one genei-a- 

 tion a year. 



As already mentioned I reared adults of Mestochoris ivilliam- 

 sofii from the eonopid puparia, which are thus secondary para- 

 sites and beneficial to the Anthophora. I first noted the adults 

 issuing from a con()])id puparium on July 15, 1919, and other 

 emergences continued for a week or more. On August 12, 1919, 

 I isolated five puparia which seemed to be i)arasitized by this 



TRANS. AW. EXT. SOC, XX^VIU. 



