THE ENTOMOLOGIST 
Vou. XLIT.} 
OCTOBER, 1909. [No. 557 
SOME POINTS IN THE LIFE-HISTORY OF ANTHOMYIA 
SPRETA, MeEtc. 
By W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. 
(Puate YI.) 
In the early summer there may not infrequently be seen 
a curious white fungus which engirdles the culm of certain 
srasses for nearly an inch of its length (pl. vi, fig. 1). This 
is parasitic on the grass, causing injury to it by checking its 
growth above the part affected by the fungus. A glance at the 
figure shews that the parasite and its host, the grass, bear no little 
similarity to a miniature bullrush, and this resemblance, we may 
assume, suggested the name Hpichloé typhina, Tul., for the fungus. 
To get rid of this fungus is not an easy matter for the 
agriculturist, but fortunately he has somewhat of an ally in 
a small dipteron, Anthomyia spreta, Meig.* This fly lays its eggs 
on the surface of the fungus. They are somewhat cylindrical 
pale bodies, one of which may be seen unhatcbed on fig. 2a 
magnified about six times. When it hatches, the egg splits 
along the side attached to the fungus, and the egg-shell does not 
fall away, but remains where it was first laid. An egg-shell may 
be seen at fig. 2b a little above and to the left of the unhatched 
egg. When they enter the world the little larve find beneath them 
an immediate supply of suitable food, on which they literally make 
incursions, traces of which may be seen below the egg-shell. 
As the larva (fig. 6a, b) grows, the egg-shell does not properly 
cover it, and it builds a waxy tunnel with the egg-shell on its 
surface, and within this it shelters when not making incursions 
into its food. In consequence of this the egg-shell, which was 
cylindrical at first, now has its two broken edges separated from 
one another. The upper surface falls in as it becomes approxi- 
mately flat, and then a ridge in the shape of a long ellipse is 
formed surrounding the depression. This is very well shewn in 
fig. 4. The traces of the incursions made by the larva to obtain 
food are also very clear in this figure, and in the preceding one 
* The first and fairly full account of the life-history of this fly is given 
by M. le Docteur Giraud in the ‘Annales de la Soc. Ent. de France,’ 1872, 
p- 503. 
ENTOM.—OCTOBER, 1909. x 
