a 
166 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. i © 
A USE OF THE HOOK TO THE TIBIZ OF THE FORE-LEGS OF 
Hyxosius apretis.—A short time ago a number of the above- 
mentioned weevils were sent me relatively to much harm they 
were doing in one locality, in Scotland; and after they had been 
imprisoned for some days, having nothing more suitable at hand, 
I placed a few specimens of half-grown spruce-galls, with young 
soft leaves on them, in the box with the Hylobius for food. They 
set to work greedily, and speedily cleared what was eatable; but 
in the case of one weevil, a soft young leaf which it had severed 
was crushed firmly into the end of the jaw, the piece of leaf 
sticking out most inconveniently behind. The weevil rubbed the 
extremity of the rostrum to and fro over the back of another, but 
this did no good, and no efforts shook the half “needle” loose, 
till, whether by instinct or haphazard I do not know, it applied 
the hook of the tibia of the left leg repeatedly, and so successfully 
that very shortly the piece of leaf was loosened and fell. Possibly 
this use of the hook is well known, but it was new to me, and 
was such a pretty sight I venture to offer a few lines on the 
subject.—E. A. Ornmerop; Spring Grove, Isleworth, W., June 1, 
1880. 
PuyToMyzA LATERALIS, Fall.: A BENEFICENT DIPTERON.— 
In the spring of 1875 I had ten acres of red clover which was 
smothered with groundsel. In April of that year I was somewhat 
Surprised to see a very great deal of the groundsel dying away 
before it seeded. Upon examination, the cause of this was found 
to be a small dipterous maggot feeding in the pith of the lower 
part of the stems. I collected many of these affected plants, and 
bred, about the middle of May, a quantity of the little flies, which I 
then sent to the late Mr. Newman, but he could not get them named. 
They pupated in the stems. Mr. R. H. Meade, to whom I have 
just lately sent a specimen, tells me it is Phytomyza lateralis of 
Fallen. I wished for its determination, as the larve have again 
appeared in some abundance. Last winter groundsel came up 
very thickly in some early-sown wheat; this was hoed twice, but 
much of the weed still lived, and it is now dying away, owing to 
the attacks of these little stem-feeding larve. Groundsel (Senecio 
vulgaris) is a troublesome weed on our good heavy land when in 
high condition. It is difficult to correctly determine these litle 
Muscids; with P. lateralis there appears to be confusion. 
Kaltenbach says it lives in the stems of nettle (Urtica dioica), 
