ii6 



SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Mierodon globosns (Fabr.). 



(Ord. DiPTERA : Fam. Svrphid.e.) 

 Mulio globosus Fabr. Syst. AntL, 1805, p. 185, Xo. 7. 

 S- uteUiff era ammerkindia Spix.: Ablidl. Acad. Muench., 1824, ix, p. l.* 

 Parniula coirifor?nis y. Heyden: iu Isis, 1823, p. 1217; in H. Sclisef. Correspond- 



enz blatt, ii, 1861, 105.* 

 Mierodon globosus WiKDKyLXifiN: Aussereurop. Zweif . Ins., ii, 1830, p. 86, No. It. 

 Dimeraspis j)oda(/ra Newman: in Ent. Mag., v, 1838, p. 373. 

 Aphritis fflohosus MAcqvAJiT: Dipt. Exot., ii, pt. ii, 1841, p. 13, pi. 1, f. 4. 

 Mierodon glohoms. Packard: Guide Stud. Ins., 1869, p. 398, f. 17. — Glover: MS. 



Notes Joum.-Dipt., 1874, p. 32, pi. 8, f. 20.— Ostex Sacken: in Bull. 



Buff. Soc. Nat. Sci., iii, 1877, p. 41; Cat. Dipt. N. Amer., 1878, p. 119.— 



Mann: in Psyche, iii, 1882, p. 379. 



This species will serve to illustrate the great variety of forms that 

 prevails in the early stages of the different genera of this extensive fam- 

 ily. In Fig. 24 the curiously spherical larva, the puparium and the per- 

 fect insect are shown, as given in Packard's Guide. 

 So unusual and remarkable are the larval and 

 pupal forms of this insect, that the latter has twice 

 been referred to a different class of the animal 

 kingdom, and described among the Molluscs, as a 

 land snail, viz., by Hayden in 1823, as a species 

 of Parmula, and by Spix in 1824, as a Scutel- 

 ligcra (see synonymy above). One of the puparia 

 was received by me in the month of April, from 

 Mr. C. M. Weed, of Lansing, Mich. From having 

 been apparently dried before placing it in alcohol, 

 it was hardly recognizable when it cams to hand, 

 a^e'i^^'^T^ but it was identified by Dr. Hagen, to whom I am 

 mueriofview ^^^^^ also indebted for portions of its synonymy. It 



c, thp. larva Just before pupa- ,,, , ,, ivt-t. i- ii it 



tiou (enlarged from Packard), had been found by Mr. Reed m an old and de- 

 caying log, with some ants. Dr. Packard states that it occurs under 

 sticks, in company with shells. 



Associated with Ants. 



From its association in old wood with ants, in the above instance, it 

 is of interest to recall the occurrence of an European species, Mierodon 

 apifonnis, in ants' nests, and also that some of the larvae of the 

 Siirphidce are known to live parasitically in nests of bees. 



Mierodon trisiii^ Loew, a New York species, and also extending far 

 northward into British America, has been observed by Dr. Williston 

 while flying about ants' nests. 



* Dr. Hagen, in making correclious to the proof of synonymy, has written : "v. Heyden 

 and Spix belong to the European species, Mierodon mutabilis and not to M. globosus, but 

 they are the first authors for the earlier stages." 



