24 [January, 1915. 



SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF SNAKE-FLIES 



{RAPHIDIA: ORDER PLANIPENNIA). 



BY HERBERT CAMPION. 



During May and June, 1913, Mr. R. South kindly gave me several 

 living imagines of Baphidia notata, from Brockenliurst, Hants, which 

 he had either taken himself, or received from correspondents. These 

 I kept alive for varying periods, the greatest longevity being attained 

 by two males. One of them, taken by Mr. South on May 30th, lived 

 until July 8th, while the other, received on June 11th, did not expire 

 until July 10th. I fed all of them upon various insects of small or 

 moderate size, but, as they manifested reluctance to attack living flies, 

 the Diptera which formed a considerable portion of their diet were 

 usuallv quieted with the forceps before being presented. It was found, 

 however, that Aphids, upon which the Raphidia fed largely, were 

 seized and eaten quite readily without being previously killed. 



In the early summer of the same year Mr. G. C. Champion was 

 good enough to give me two larvae from Woking, Surrey. They 

 had not, however, been kept apart from each other during captivity, 

 and when I received them they were in a moribund condition, from 

 which they never recovered. Possibly, in default of proper food, the 

 larvae had bitten and fatally injured one another. B^^t on July 21st 

 the same entomologist handed me a large and healthy larva (referred to 

 herein as No 1) which he had got at Woking two 'days previously, while 

 searching for Goleoptera under the bark of Scots Fir. On July 28th, 

 two more larvae (Nos. 2 and 3) were found by Mr. Champion at 

 Woking, beneath a heap of decaying Sphagnum moss which had been 

 removed from a small pond and thrown down upc^n groimd strewn 

 with the needles of Scots Fir. At Wisley, Surrey (August 4th), 

 Mr. Champion discovered another larva (No. 4) of large size, under 

 pine bark. 



All these larvae came into my possession, and it was noticed that 

 Nos. 2 and 3 were considerably smaller than Nos. 1 and 4, and, apart 

 from size, could be distinguished from them by the uninterrupted 

 condition of the mid-dorsal buff-coloured line on the abdomen. In 

 the larger larvae this line was interrupted and reduced to spots, one 

 of such spots being placed at the apex of each segment. Nos. 2 and 3 

 were bred through, and proved to be a (J and ? , respectively, of 

 B. maculicolUs. Unfortunately, Nos. 1 and 4 died before pupating, 

 but it is almost certain that they belonged to the larger species notata. 



