146 Journal New York Entomological Society, t^'o'- xxx. 



Pachygasteringe. 



The genus Pachygastcr in its narrowest sense includes one North 

 American species, P. pulcher Loew, which, though not common, ap- 

 pears to have a wide distribution. But little is known of its habits. 

 The early stages of the European P. atra Meigen, the type of the 

 genus, has been described by Heeger, and others. It has clavate 

 body bristles like the penultimate instar of Microchrysa polita but 

 lacks the cleft at the apex of the abdomen (fig. i6). Verrall states 

 that the larvae are found in rotten detritus of the elm. According 

 to Heeger the larva hibernates under leaves and stones, the adults 

 appearing in April in Central Europe. The eggs, six to ten in num- 

 ber, are laid in moist places on the earth, and hatch in eight to 

 twelve days. The larva feeds on dead animal matter found in the 

 mud, but may also feed on living earthworms and maggots. When 

 full grown it is about 6 mm. in length. In from one to three months 

 the adults appear, and may be found from April to September. It 

 thus appears that there are two broods. The early stages of other 

 European species are described by Lundbeck (1907), Verrall (1909) 

 and others. 



The larva of Zabrochia polita Coq. was found by Mr. C. W. 

 Johnson (1906) under the wet, decayed bark of pine logs. It is 

 5 mm. long and brownish in color (fig. 10). The adults appear in 

 May and June. Bezzi has referred the European Pachygastcr minu- 

 tissima Zett. (fig. 14) to the genus Zabrachia. The larva of this 

 species which is found under the decaying bark of conifers is de- 

 scribed and figured by de Meijere (1916) and Tragaardh (1914), 

 as well as by earlier authors. 



A specimen of Zabrachia polita was kindly lent me by Mr. C. W. 

 Johnson for study. The head resembles that shown in figure 14 but 

 the mouth parts are folded down so that they do not project forward. 

 The line of articulation of these parts makes a distinctly acute angle 

 with the longitudinal axis instead of being nearly a right angle and 

 the bristles are also more numerous, some almost clavate. The 

 antennae are placed about as shown in the figure of Z. minutissima 

 (fig. 14). Eigure 10 is a ventral view of Z. polita. The dorsal 

 bristles are longer and stronger than the ventral. On the first seg- 

 ment there are two transverse ranges but on each of the succeeding 



