730 Charles Paul Alexander 



Referring to Limnobiinae, Perkins says (page clxxxii of the same 

 reference) : 



The specios of Dicmnomyia are endemic, and to the five described, others and perhang 

 many more will, no doubt, be added. They are common insects, sometimes attracted by 

 light and sometmies observed at rest in the daytime, or on the wing in the dark cavity of 

 some hollow tree. In the latter case a number are usually seen flying together, rising and 

 fallmg m their flight in the narrow space of a few feet. We have bred one or more spedes 

 from decayed wood, overgrown with damp moss. These fragile flies are the favourite prey of 

 the endemic predaceous wasps of the family Mimesidae, and some of the Crabronidae like- 

 wise gather them. Consequently one may find the females of these wasps investigating 

 damp, dark places, where the Dicranomyia are likely to be found, but which ordkiarilv 

 would have but bttle attraction for such sun-loving insects. orcunaruy 



Writing of the Crabronidae, Perkins says (page kxxvi of the reference 

 cited) : 



Xenoa-abro hawaiiensis on one occasion was caught carrying off Lispe [Anthomyiidae] 

 and on another occasion a species of the Ihnnobud Dicranomyia! -^numjiiaaej 



De Meijere (1920:59) records Crabro (Rhopalum) tibiale as provisioning 

 its nest principally with Molophilus armatus Meij. 



Parasitic natural enemies 

 External parasites 



Besides the predatory forms just considered, the various stages of the 

 existence of many crane-flies are threatened with parasites which are 

 equally effective altho more insidious in their method of attack. There 

 are unquestionably many parasites of crane-flies concerning which nothing 

 at all is known at this thne. It is inconceivable that such species as 

 Holorusia grandis, Tipiila abdominalis, and other large and common forms 

 do not serve as hosts for parasites as yet unknown. It is this field of 

 mvestigation that now promises some of the most valuable results. 



Hexapoda.— i:\ie only parasitic insects of which the writer knows 

 are the dipterous Tachinidae. Glover (1874) states that in Europe certain 

 Tipulae are destroyed by a proctotrupid parasite of the genus Diapria 

 Latreille. Kieffer, in liis monograph of the Diapriidae (1911), does not 

 mention this and the writer has not seen it referred to elsewhere. It is 

 probable that the reference pertains to some of the smaller Tipula-Hke 

 forms of another family. However, it is very strange that one or more 

 of the many families of parasitic Hymenoptera do not infest some stage 

 of the Tipuhdae, and it may be confidently predicted that such parasites 

 will one day be discovered. 



