94 Oi'thorrapha brachycera. 



only as a very small lobe, not to be seen unless by the aid of the 

 microscope. Wings with the radial vein apparently issuing from the 

 cubital vein, with a veinlet at the basal angle; the cubital vein 

 branched, the upper branch angularly bent at the base and with a 

 veinlet (one or both of the veinlets mentioned may be absent in for- 

 eign species) ; two cubital cells ; four posterior cells, on account of the 

 third and fourth being confluent, the first somewhat narrowed at the 

 apex; anal cell narrowly open. At the base of the costa a small 

 hook (præalar hook Osten Sacken). Alula distinct; the alar squamula 

 fringed at the margin; frenulum with a tuft of long hairs. 



Of the developmental stages I have examined larvæ and a pupa, 

 taken in Sicily in nests of Megadiile muraria and certainly of 

 A. trifasciata Meig. ^ The full grown larva is cylindrical or some- 

 what flattened, especially on the ventral side, of white coloiir. The 

 body consists of thirteen segments and it tapers slightly towards 

 each end. The head is very small and quite retracted; the mouth 

 parts are not of the typical construction, but much reduced, I could 

 only detect two small and slender hooks, probably the mandibles; 

 they are directed downwards, and seem to be united in the middle 

 by a small, chitinous piece (perhaps the labrum), The segments of 

 the body have a slight swelling on each side; the twelfth segment is 

 suddenly somewhat narrower than the preceding, the last segment is 

 again considerably smaller and it is not situated in the middle, but 

 on the lower part of the posterior surface of the twelfth segment, 

 this latter thus getting a free, backwards looking posterior surface 

 above; the last segment has the anus lying at the end. The larva is 

 amphipneustic with prothoracic spiracles at the hind margin of pro- 

 thorax, and posterior spiracles at the hind margin of the penultimate 

 segment on the posterior surface mentioned. — The larva is described 

 and figured by Fabre (Souv. Entom. III, 1886, 129), but he has made 

 the curious mistake of taking the anal end for the head, and in ac- 

 cordance herewith he declares that the larva has no mouth parts at 

 all. Verhoeff (Verh. d. naturf. Ver. Westfal. XL VIII, 1891, 54, Fig. 64, 

 65) describes and figures the larva of A. mdhrax {sinnata)\ he has in 

 this species, besides the small, hook-formed mandibles, found very 

 small maxillary palpi and antennal papillæ. — The larva passes during 

 growth through different stages; the young larva is described and 

 figured by Fabre (1. c. !205); it is slender and has a long bristle on 



The material was collected in March this year (1908) at Taomiina in Sicily hy 

 my fi-iend Mr. J. G. Nielsen; it was labelled: „From Megachile muraria, nidi- 

 llcating in the right eye of the statue of St. Pancratius in Taomiina." 



å 



