36 MISCELLANEOUS RESULTS OF WORK OF BUREAU IX. 



of the latter by the long bristles on the underside of the posterior 

 femora or hind thighs. It Avas described in 1001 from flies obtained 

 from the stems of Lupimts alha from Los Angeles, Cal." This species 

 resembles the common house flj^, though more slender and of a more 

 distinctly gray color. The larvre are white maggots and resemble the 

 seed-corn maggot. They infest chiefly the crown of the plant, seldom, 

 if ever, entering the roots, but penetrating into the larger stems; 

 sometimes, it is reported, going as far as the base of the flowers. 



AVe have records of the rearing of this species from ^1. molUssimus 

 from material collected at Sherlock, Kans., and from Lupinus arhorea 

 at Alameda, Cal., in April. In June, 1887, it was received from Xew 

 Mexico with statement by Dr. V. Havard that it was breeding in 

 the roots of A. moUissimus. At this time we were conducting con- 

 siderable correspondence with Doctor Havard in regard to the insect 

 enemies of this plant in Kansas, Xew Mexico, and Texas. Doctor 

 Havard stated, among other things, that at that time it was some- 

 what generally believed that '' locoism " on the part of stock animals 

 was due, not to any deleterious property of the plants, but to the 

 larva? of insects found abundantly in the stems and roots. In all 

 specimens received by him from Xew INIexico the stems, without ex- 

 ception, were bored by the larvae of this species. Flies from this last 

 lot began issuing June 10. In May, 1005, and January, 1908, this 

 species was again received from locos from Hugo, Colo. In that 

 locality it was associated with E^ixeda notata and Sciara inconstans. 



THE FICKLE MIDGE. 



{Sckini iiiconstiiiis Fiteli). 



This minute gnat-like fly was reared from purple loco received from 

 Hugo, Colo., in 1906, the adults issuing May 24. During 1907-8 addi- 

 tional specimens were received from the same source. Doctor Marsh 

 has ex^jressed the belief that this species, with the larger maggot, Pe- 

 f/omya lupini Coq., is one of the chief causes of the destruction and 

 apparent temporary extermination of this loco weed in that section 

 of Colorado. The members of the famil}^ to which it belongs, the 

 ]\Iycetophilida^, are for the most part scavengers, feeding on decom- 

 posing vegetable matter, including fungous growths, whence their 

 name of '' fungus gnats." Taken as a whole, however, the family dis- 

 plays great diversity in habits and the present species is the most 

 widely distributed and most nearly omnivorous of its kind. It feeds 

 on A^egetation of almost all forms, occurring destructively in green- 

 houses, as also in the open, in cultivated and uncultivated regions. 

 It appears to be most abundant in the Xorthern States. 



" Ent. News, September, I'JOl, pp. 200-207. 



