Juue, '10] THOMPSON : TACHINID PUPATION 295 



quite fii:mly the earth in the cylinders. They may then be fumigated 

 Avith carbon bisulphide to kill any creatures which might attack the 

 puparia of the Tachinids, and when they have been afterward thor- 

 oughly aired, the Tachinid larvfe as they emerge from their hosts, may 

 be placed in them and allowed to pupate as they wish. This may be 

 facilitated by placing material suspected to contain Tachinids upon 

 a piece of mosquito netting stretched above the earth in a cylinder 

 in the manner already described earlier in this paper. The cylinder 

 may then be sunk in the ground in .some cool, moist place, examined 

 from time to time in the summer to secure the summer-issuing species 

 and again the next spring for the hibernating forms. The essential 

 thing is that the earth in which the maggots have pupated be kept 

 moist during the winter in order to successfully rear the hibernating 

 species. With' the forms w^hich hibernate within the body of the 

 over- wintering host, the methods- which suffice to carry the latter to 

 maturity will suffice for the parasites. It is only necessary to recog- 

 nize that such hibernating hosts may contain Tachinid parasites 

 whose habits and identitv it is well to determine. 



FOOD OF THE BOBWHITE 



By Margaret Morse Nice, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. 



INTRODUCTORY 



To become effective, conservation of our valuable bird life must be 

 based on definite knowledge of the facts. To gather the facts re- 

 quires patient study, and the present paper gives the results of more 

 than two years research and presents the most complete and convin- 

 cing statement that we have of the food of any bird. As these results 

 become generally known, by sheer weight of values involved, they will 

 put the bobwhite, properly appreciated and protected, in every farm 

 and garden in the land. 



This paper forms a part of a more complete monograph on the 

 Biology of the Bobwhite, which aims to discuss the species in all its 

 complex relations to the life of the continent. Two general points, 

 however, may be anticipated. 



First, former researches have demonstrated that the bobwhite feeds 

 almost entirely on weed seeds and insects, and that it does no appre- 

 ciable damage to agriculture. Some may ask for a more detailed 

 analysis of the insect food and may question whether the bird may 

 not take valuable insects to such an extent as to decrease somewhat 



