SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT. 91 
one in which he described new Diptera appeared in 1865. It seems fairly 
safe to conclude that D. melanogaster became common in upper New York 
State between 1865 and 1875. 
It seems curious that the name melanogaster should have been overlooked 
by Loew, and should have been neglected by other workers for so long. 
It was recognized by Schiner in 1864, but seems not to have been used 
thereafter until Austen (1905, Entom. Mag., p. 276) pointed out that it 
was an earlier name for the form then known as D. ampelophila Loew. 
But even then the point was overlooked by most entomologists until redis- 
covered by Villeneuve (1913, Wien. ent. Zeit., 32, 128). The synonymy of 
D. nigriventris Zetterstedt was pointed out by Schiner (1864, Fauna Austr., 
2, 277); that of D. warum Rondani by Mik (1883, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. 
Wien., 33). Mik was also the first to conclude that the species is cos- 
mopolitan. 
D. melanogaster is to be found most commonly about houses or grocery 
stores, or in orchards or fields. It is not a common woods species. It seems 
to me doubtful if it hibernates in the Northern States. I suspect that the 
only survivors of the winter have lived indoors when it was cold. New 
stocks must be continually brought in from the tropics on banana boats, 
so that the race to be found in any one locality is very likely continually 
changing, through the introduction of ‘‘new blood.” The species is pri- 
marily a fruit eater, though it can be bred on various other substances. 
Howard has bred it from human excrement, but this is exceptional, as the 
species is not usually attracted to such material. I have bred it from 
apple, banana, blackberry, fig, grapefruit, grape, guanabana, huckleberry, 
marifion, papaya, peach, pineapple, plantain, potato, tomato, zapote, and 
stale beer. Banana and peach are the most satisfactory of these for labor- 
atory purposes. A still more satisfactory method of feeding these flies in 
the laboratory is the banana-agar method described elsewhere in this 
paper. 
. The eggs have two filaments. Females will sometimes lay eggs when 
they are only a day old, but mating and oviposition usually begin on about 
the second or third day. From eight to twelve days are ordinarily required 
for development, depending on the temperature and food conditions. The 
chromosomes, mating habits, genetic experiments, and tropisms are de- 
scribed elsewhere in this paper. 
Drosophila simulans Sturtevant. 1919. Psyche, 26, 153. 
o', 2. No constant and usable differences from D. melanogaster, except that the 
cheek (measured just below the lowest point of the eye) is a little broader (cf. figs. 45 and 46), 
and that the shape of the clasper and of the posterior process of the first genital segment of 
the male (figs. 13 and 14) are distinct. The shape of the cheek is difficult to be sure of, 
and the male genitalia can not be examined satisfactorily except in relaxed material. The 
spermathece do not differ from those of D. melanogaster. 
Specimens examined: Randolph, New Hampshire (Miss H. Daniels); 
Cold Spring Harbor (C. W. Metz), Staten Island (F. Schrader), New York; 
Rochester, Minnesota (L. Huckfield); Richmond, Virginia; Macon, Georgia 
(G. L. Carver); Lakeland (C. W. Metz, type material), Palm Beach (B. B. 
Horton), Key Largo (F. Knab), Florida; Kushla, Alabama; Fayetteville, 
Arkansas (B. Schwartz); Port Limon, Costa Rica; Taboga Island, Panama 
(A. Busck); Sao Paulo (F. Iglesias), Matto Grosso (Harris), Brazil. 
The mating and breeding habits of this species are almost identical with 
those of D. melanogaster. The species is almost as common as D. melano- 
gaster in the neighborhood of New York and in southern Alabama, but has 
not yet been recognized in material from the Pacific coast, the West Indies, 
