TACIIINII) TAKASl'lK OF JSKK. 



I!)- 



of a bee which had fallen dead at his feet. This larva was 

 placed in a specimen tube, and pupated in the course of an 

 hour. The adult fly emerged on the 8rd July. ( )n 11th Novem- 

 ber, another student (J. Lamb) found a similar maggot in 

 one of the hives at Cedara. This larva pupated shortly after 

 it was found, and the adult emerged on 23rd December. The 

 Hy proved to be identical with the one reared six months 

 previously, and was determined by Dr. Peringuey as 

 RondajiioceHriis apivotu~s, Villen. 



Yilleneuve's note that " nothing was i)reviously known 

 of the habits of the Tachino-Oestrid Diptera " made me decide 

 to study the life-history of this interesting fly, and the results 

 of observations made at Cedara during the past nine months 

 are embodied in this paper. 



The adult fly is found haunting the hives from December 

 to February, and again from May to July. It looks very 

 much like a squat house fly, dark grey in colour, as it rests on 

 the alighting board or just above the entrance to the hive 

 (Fig. 1). At Cedara one or two of these flies can generally 



Fig. 1. — I'ondaniocestnis ai>ivorus Villeiieuve. Adult female. 



Fig. 2. — Iiondaniocestrus apivorus. Mature larva. 



Fig. 3. — Iiondaniocestrus apivorus. Puparium. 



be found frequenting each hive during the months mentioned 

 above, especially during January and June. The flies 

 captured in the apiary are all females — in fact, the only males 

 I have come across I have bred out myself in the laboratory. 

 I have been unable to discover what these insects feed on in 

 the adult state. Some specimens kept in cages made no 

 attempt to feed on the honey and water offered to them, and 

 died in the course of two or three days. 



If a newly-emerged female is dissected, her ovaries are 

 found to consist of two large white spherical masses of eggs 

 showing no semblance of ovarian tubes. Each ovary measures 

 about 3 mm. by 2 mm. and contains three to four hundred 



