ON A FEW TACHINID^ AND THKIR HOSTS. 271 



of jucunda, as I do not recollect having bred any other kind 

 from salicis, nor have I hred jucunda from any other species." 



Blcphnridca vuhjaris, Fin. 



Mr. E. Goodwin, of Wateringbury, in Kent, has bred four 

 specimens of this common species there from Theda quercus on 

 20th June. I have bred it at Epsom from Pieris rap(e in 1891. 

 Mr. J. Wigin sent me five puparia bred at Methley, near Leeds, 

 from Acronycta psi on 15th September. Of these, two died just 

 before emergence of the imagines ; one was eaten of Chalcid flies 

 — some small green species of Pteromalus, a score of which 

 emerged from a single hole in its side ; the fourth was out with 

 its wings fully developed at midnight of 27th May following ; 

 and the last, whose wings it was quite easy to see stretch and 

 expand, three days later. It is also a common parasite of 

 Abraxas gross ulariata, from which I possess specimens reared by 

 the late Mr. E. G. J. Sparke at Tooting in November, and by 

 Mr. C. T. Gimingham, at Tottenham, Middlesex, on 21st June. 

 Mr. Hubert Phillips has bred a similar fly, though the species is 

 doubtful, from Hadena pisi and Mamestra hrassicce. The puparia 

 is, I believe, never concealed within, though occasionally attached 

 to, the defunct larva. 



Frontina fugax, Rnd. 



On October 7th Mr. Wigin sent me six puparia of this species 

 from Methley, bred from larvse of Acronycta psi. One of these 

 emerged e7i route, and bored through its paper covering, apparently 

 by wetting it with oral fluid, and then bursting through, since one 

 wmg was crumpled, perhaps through the extra expense of the 

 fluid. The remainder emerged on, or slightly before, the 18th 

 June following, though one died with only its head discovered. 

 Again, the following autumn, he sent me three more from the 

 same host, which emerged on 26th May, and two on 2nd June of 

 the next year. One of these emerged between 9 p.m. and mid- 

 night ; another between midnight and 10 a.m. In the same 

 parcel was enclosed a Tachinid, which emerged too crippled for 

 identification, bred from Plusia gamma (c/. also E.M.M. 1900, 

 p. 244). F. fugax appears to be solitary in its parasitism ; I 

 possess specimens of the puparia occupying about half, and quite 

 covered by, the old caterpillar's entirely empty skin. 



Phorocera serriventris, End. 



Mr. J. C. Haggart, of Galashiels, was so good as to forward, 

 on 3rd April, three puparia of this species, which he had bred 

 from Chiswick pupae of Acronycta aceris. The first emerged on the 

 30th of the same month with fully-developed wings; the other two 

 followed on 8th May — one at 11 a.m., the other a little before 

 midnight — but neither managed to expand its wings. At the 



