( xxvi ) 



Mr. W. II. B. Fletcher, in wlio.se (lower garden at Boifnor 

 they had been fonntl. The larvic of this species prove de- 

 structive there, feeding on the roots of llellehoruSy Iris, 

 J'avnia, and, in fact, on everythinj^ with available roots, but 

 the infested larvio are only obtained from certain clumps of 

 Fmonia officinalis, working to the surface during the winter 

 months. The larvte are of two classes : — 



(rt) )Some show anteriorly much fibrous net-like mycelium 

 growth, accompanied by a drumstick-like process often more 

 than half the length of the larva ; the.se larvie do not work 

 out of the ground, but the fungoid fructification appears above 

 giound, resembling a small reddish toad-stool, and the net-like 

 mycelium seems to anchor the larvte in their places. 



(b) Others shoAV no fungoid growth externally, and these 

 work completely out of the soil, and lie about on the surface. 

 Mr. Fletcher suggests that the dead larvse perhaps arrive 

 there through the movement of the soil, resulting from sun- 

 shine and rain, frost and thaw, acting on the larval hairs, and 

 allowing a forward but not a backward motion. 



The drumstick growth sliown by the former class resembles in 

 miniature the well-known process that springs, through the soil, 

 from the dead larvse of moths of the New Zealand llepialid 

 genus Porina, when infested by the fungus, Cordiceps robertsii. 



Tongue of an Ociiromyia. — Professor Poulton exhibited 

 a preparation of the tongue of the fly Ochromi/ia jejwia, made 

 by Mr. E. Ernest Green, F.E.S., and gave an account of some 

 fresh observations recorded by him. These new facts, bearing 

 upon the discussion in Trans. J]nt. Soc. Lond., 1906, pp. ;!94-6, 

 were contained in a letter wi-itten Nov. G, 1007, from which 

 the following passages were quoted : — 



' ' rcradenvja, Ceylon. 

 " A flight of winged Termites came into my bungalow last 

 night, and I was fortunate in witnessing an attack by the fly 

 — Ochroviyia jejuna — upon one of them. Several of the 

 Termites had shed their wings. The fly pitched beside one of 

 them and followed it for some time, making half-lieai'ted feints 

 at attack before it finally seized it. I could see that the point 

 of attachment was at about the middle of the dorsal surface 

 of the abdomen. As the fly seemed inclined to carry oii its 



