106 l^KOCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF QUEENSLAND. 



Mr." Froggatt regards this wasp as being capable of digging 

 AA-ell beneath the soil in search of Sarcophaga pupae. This is 

 probably not the case. .Sarcophagid flies pupate just as 

 frequently on the surface of the soil as do the other carrion- 

 flies, and it is doubtful whether the wasp would trouble to 

 attack those beneath the surface of the soil, when there are 

 more accessible pupae available. On one occasion this alleged 

 habit was tested. Soil containing pupated larvae was put into 

 a bottle, together with a female Dirhinus ; she could easily 

 have reached them by a little digging (the soil being about 

 one inch in depth), but took no notice whatever of the buried 

 pupai, and after a few hours' captivity spent all her time in 

 trying to escape. 



5. Pachycrepoideus dubius Ashmead. 

 This Avasp was first described from U.S.A., where it 

 parasitizes the house-fly. It has been recorded by Girault 

 from Northern Queensland, but nothing further is known about 

 it in tliis country. Undoubtedly it attacks various flics 

 occurring in that locality. 



6. Hemilexomyia abrupta Dodd. 



This Diapriid wasp was first described and figured by 

 W. W.and J. L. Froggatt (1917, pp. 32-33) as being bred from 

 a blowfly (? Ophyra nigra), axiAivom Musca domestica (1918, 

 p. 18) near Hay, N.S.W. It was more fully described and 

 named by Dodd (1920, p. 421) under the above designation. 

 The latter author reported it as a parasite of Ophyra nigra and 

 CaUiphora villosa (i.e. Neopollenia stygia) in N.S.W. (Froggatt 

 collection). It has not been found in Brisbane. 



7. Chalcis calliphorse Froggatt.- 



This fairly large insect was described by Froggatt (1916, 

 p. 506 ; 1917, p. 30) from Hay district, N.S.W., as a black 

 wasp about the size of a small housefly, with reddish-yello\\- 

 antennse, oval shining red-brown abdomen, and Avith thickened 

 hind femora. This chalcid, which breeds readily in captivity, 

 attacks blowfly larvae and does not prevent their pupation 

 before destruction occurs. 



2 D. Miller (N. Z. Jour. Agric, 22 J\.me, 1921) states that large 

 numbers of this parasite, obtained from Australia, were liberated in 

 New Zealand two years ago, but that no definite results have yet been 

 attained. 



