103 [Assembly 



one or two inches in thickness, and extending thirty yards in length. 

 Individually they are but al)uut five lines long and a third of a line 

 in diameter. M. Guerin-Meneville has given interesting details of 

 some of these assemblies observed by liim, as quoted in Figuier's 

 Insect Wo?'ld, pp. 40, 47. 



That some of the species of the genus may possess injurious 

 habits appears from the mention by Pi'of. Westwood, that Olivier 

 had reared three species oiSeiara from wheat, of which account is 

 given in Prem M^m. sur quelques Insectes qui attaquent les Cereales^ 

 Paris, 1813. 



Sciari i)yri^ of Europe, is said to injure the blossoms and fruit 

 of the pear, causing them to fall ; while of other European species, 

 S. fucata lives m decaying potatoes, turnips and other vegetables; 

 S. quinquelineata breeds in diseased potatoes and is supposed, by 

 some, to cause the " scab;" S. tilicola produces a gall on the leaves 

 of young linden trees; and S. Giraudii has been bred from stems 

 of Malva and AUhcea. 



One of our American species, at least, is known to be injurious, 

 viz, Sciari mail (Fitch), the larvae of which destroy the interior of 

 apples by burrowing through them, while the fair exterior shows no 

 indication of the concealed attack, [ist and 'id Report Insects N. 1\, 

 p. 254.) 



Helophilus 8IMILI8 MacquaH. 



From Dr. R. II. Morey, of old Chatham, Columbia eonnty N. Y. 

 seven exam|3Jes of the larva of one of the flower-flies {Syi'2>hid(e), 

 of the group known from their long anal appendage as '' rat-tailed 

 larvpe, '' which he had taken from a watering-trough at North Adams, 

 Massachusetts, were received on the 5th of July. He had previously 

 given me, on July 2nd, two examples of the same, taken from many 

 that were seen by him at that time. Upon his second visit to the 

 place, for additional specimens, only the above seven examples conld 

 be obtained. Most of them had evidently left the trough and sought 

 other quarters for pupation. 



The larvre were placed in a glass of water with an inch of ground 

 and dead vegetable matter at tlie bottom. They hid themselves m 

 the ground, with their tail extended npward to the surface for res- 

 piration, to an extent of two inches, except when disturbed, when the 

 respiratory organ would be witiidrawn from the surface and partly 

 contracted. 



Within the following week, some of the larvae were found float- 

 ing upon the surface of the water. As this condition was believed 

 to indicate approaching pupation, they were transferred to a box of 

 dampened saw-dust, into which they buried tiiemselves. 



At this time they presented the following features : The body, 

 subcylindrical, narrowing somewhat anteriorly, and one-half of an 

 inch in length by one-eighth of an inch broad ; beneath, whitish, 

 pale brown above, becoming darker toward the tail ; the several seg- 

 ments show six divisions (as wrinkles or folds) above, of which the 



