148 f"^"'-^' 



long- as and wider than the thorax, the frontal furrows short and obsolete, the 

 lateral farrows wantiuu' ; sculpture consistinf^ of a row of tln-ee punctures 

 behind the insertion of the antennae on either side and a very few small 

 scattered ones before the base and at the sides. Antennae stout, the 3rd joint 

 a little shorter than the 2nd, the 4th to the 10th strongly transverse, <rradually 

 increasing in breadth. Thorax twice as long as broad, narrowed beliind, on 

 either side of the middle with six moderate punctures, the sides in front with 

 three or four more. Scutellura impunctate. Elytra scai'cely as long as. but a 

 little broader than, the thorax, longer than broad, with a row of 6 or 7 very 

 obsolete punctures extending backwards from the shoulders on either side of 

 the disc, otherwise impunctate and without ground-sculpture, Abdom&n with 

 a few asperate punctures on the 6th and 7th segments, otherwise practically 

 impunctate. 



Itah. Nilgiri Hills ( H. L. Andrewes). Tyi>e in my own collection. 



{To be continued.) 



NOTES ON (I) THE PARASITIC STAPH YLINID ALEOCHARA ALGARUM 



Fauvel, and its HOSTS, THE PHYCODEOMID FLIES ; 

 (II) A CASE OF SUPPOSED PARASITISM IN THE GENUS irOiH.lLOr.4. 



BY HUGH SCOTT, Sc.B., M.A. 



I. ALEOCHARA ALGARUM. 



In the " Entomologists' Montlilj Magazine " for September 1916, 

 p. 206, I published a brief note on the discover}^ by Mr. G. T. Lyle that 

 Aleocliara aJgarum is parasitic in the pupai'ia of the Phycodromid fly, 

 Orijjjma luctuosum. The purpose of the present paper is to record some 

 subsequent observations made by mj^self in 1919, when I bred the beetle 

 in large numbers from puparia of two other species of Fhycodromidae. 

 These notes are put on record now, as I am unlikely to have opportunity 

 to investigate the life-cycle of the insect further. 



Paeasitism in Aleocharinae. — It may be recalled that several 

 species of Aleocharine beetles are known to be parasitic, and this mode 

 of life may possibly^ be found to be common throughout the subfamily. 

 Wadsworth * has fully woi'ked out the life-history of Aleocliara hi- 

 lineata GylL, parasitic on puparia of the cabbage-root fly, Phorhia 

 {== ChortopJdla) hi-assicae Bouche, both in Europe and N. America. 

 He gives a list of earlier works referring to the life-history of this 

 beetle, and deals with its synonymy. A distinct species, Bari/odma 

 ontarionis Casey, is also said to parasitise the same host in Canada. t 



* J. T. Wadsworth, " On the life-history of Aleochara bilinsata GylL, a Staphylinid parasite of 

 Ckortophila brassicae Bouche," Journ. Econ. Biol, x, 1915, iij-). l-'JTt, pis. 1, 2. [Abetraot in Ent. Mo. 

 Mag. 1916, p. 161.] 



t A. Gibson and B. C. Treherne, " The Cabbage Boot Maggot and its control in Canada," 

 Dominion of Canada Uep. Agi-., Ent. Bull. 12. 1916, p. 52. [Mentioned, Ent. Mo. Mag.'19ie, p. 163.1 



