1906.] 187 



sooner had I removorl two or three of the bodies and placed them on 

 the ground below, than out from the dead leaves near at hand came 

 running a number of Phora curDinervis, and made straight for the bait. 

 There is also another peculiarity in their relation to carrion. They do 

 not sit exposed u])on it like the BlepharoptercB and SepsidcB, but hide 

 away underneath, and it is quite startling on turning over a small 

 object like a mole to see sometimes a crowd of curvinervis of both 

 sexes scuttling aw^ay in all directions, and amongst them perhaps a 

 rare urhana or two. 



In habits they are restless insects, very active, and able to run 

 with great rapidity. A few species, like the aforesaid curvinervis, 

 almost confine themselves to this mode of progression, seldom using 

 their wings except to escape danger, and then only in short skipping 

 flights. But the majority show no disinclination to fly, and to my know- 



. ledge one species at least, the female o{ fascia (a, AnwQQs in the air in small 

 swarms, as do so many Dijofera of widely different families ; whilst 

 the small atoms, which occasionally w4ien lamps are lit in the room 

 come floating to and fro in the glare of the light, are mostly Phorce. 

 They are not, perhaps, great lovers of sunshine, and the last place in 

 which one should be tempted to look for them would be on a dr\% 

 hot bank, whereas some damp and shady wood-path, where the under- 

 wood has become hollow from age and agarics and boleti have taken 

 the place of flowering plants, is sure to yield a rich harvest. 



I have had myself no personal acquaintance with the larvae. 

 Wherever they have been bred, decaying vegetable or animal matter has 

 in most cases been the pabulum. No one seeing the connection of 

 curvinervis and urhana with carrion can for a moment doubt that they 

 are there for the purpose of ovipositing. For the same reason I 

 believe that most, if not all, of the species in that section of Group 

 I characterised by having only three thin veins are carrion feeders 

 too. Maculata has been bred by Dufour in France and by the Rev. 

 H. S. Grorham in England from dead snails. Formicarmn is i^arasitic 

 upon the ant. Lasius nicjer, a most interesting discovery which we 

 ow^e to Lubbock ; and Mr. Collin tells me he has seen specimens of 

 vitripennis which were reared from humble-bees' nests and from 

 wasps' nests, but whether the insect in this case is a true parasite like 



formicarum, or merely carnivorous or a scavenger is not clear. 



The com.bination of characters by which the genus Pliora may be 

 known from the other constituents of the family are (1) the presence 

 of ocelli, (2) of claws and pulvelli, (3) the dorsal position of the 

 arista, (4) the fringe of bristles on the costa,^ (5) the complete 



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