November, 1870] 121 



PARASITIC BIPTERA. 

 BY K. H. MEADE. 



The short appeal which I made in the September number of thia 

 Magazine to British Lepidopterists, asking them to preserve any para- 

 sitic flies that they might breed from the piipse of butterflies or moths, 

 has, I am glad to say, been already attended with some success, for I 

 have lately received several specimens from Mr. Bignell, of Stonehouse, 

 among which are two species of considei'able interest. 



The collection contained four distinct species, viz. : Tacliina lar- 

 varum, Linn., Exorista vulgaris, Pall., Exorista grandis, Zett., and 

 Masicera Atropivora, Desv. The first two species were both bred from 

 ZygoBna fiUpendul(S ; Mr. Bignell did not say that they emerged from 

 the same cocoon, so I think they were probably bred from separate 

 ones. They are both tolerably common species, the latter especially 

 so, and seem to be parasitic on the larvae of several different moths, 

 for Meigen says that T. larvarum is frequently met with on Hypono- 

 meuta evonymella, and Zetterstedt has seen it emerge from Arctia caja. 

 I have specimens myself of E. vulgaris, which have been bred from a 

 variety of species of Lepidoptera. 



Of the two other parasites, Exorista grandis was bred by Mr. 

 Bignell from Saturnia carpini; he sent me both male and female 

 specimens for examination. This fine Dipteron was named and de- 

 scribed by Zetterstedt in the "Diptera Scandinavian," but it has not 

 been found in Germany, France, or Italy. Zetterstedt only knew the 

 male, and says it is very rare in Sweden, but has been bred there from 

 A. caja, and also, according to Professor Wahlberg, from S. pavonia- 

 minor {carjnni). It is an interesting addition to the British fauna. 



The last species, Masicera Atropivora, has only been found in 

 France and Italy, and, as its name implies, is parasitic upon the death's- 

 head moth. It was first named and described by Eobineau Desvoidy 

 in his great work on the Myodaires, under the title of Sturmia 

 atropivora. He says that M. Serville found more than twenty-four 

 individuals of this species in one chrysalis of Acherontia Atropos. 

 Macquart has also found it in France, and Eondani says* it is common 

 in Italy, parasitic upon the same larva. 



"When I received specimens of this fly from Mr. Bignell, and he 

 wrote me word that he had bred them from A. Atropos, I hoped that 

 it Avould prove another addition to the British list ; but in a subse- 

 quent letter he tells me that the larvae were given him by an officer 

 in the navy, who he believes obtained them in the Mediterranean. 



* rrodromus dipterologiie Italicaj, Tom. 4, p. 15. 



