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XXI. Observations on the Habits of the Dipterous Genus 

 Conops. By S. S. Saunders, Esq. 



[Read Feb. 1st, 1858,] 



The natural history of these Parasites has hitherto remained in- 

 volved in much obscurity. The information bearing upon this 

 subject, mainly of a circumstantial and conjectural character, may 

 be summed up as follows. 



Latreille, in his "Genera Insectorum" (vol. iv. p. .366), pub- 

 lished in 1809, observes in reference to Conops rufipes, " Insectum, 

 recens declai'atum et alis adhuc mollibus, e Bombi abdomine 

 prodiens, bis observavi." 



In a paper read at the Societe Philomatique of Paris in 1818, 

 first published in the " Journal de Physique" of 1819 (tomelxxxviii. 

 p. 228), and reprinted, with additional illustrations, in the first 

 volume of the " Memoires de la Societe d'Histoire Naturelle de 

 Paris" in 1823 (p. 329), Messrs. Audouin and Lachat furnish 

 a series of anatomical details of an apod larva found in the 

 Bourdon des Pierres (^Bombus lapidorum), which Latreille ascribed 

 to the Conops rujipes noticed by him as aforesaid, four specimens 

 of which he had also found in a box wherein he had inclosed 

 certain humble bees of another species (Bombus terrestris, Fabr.). 



In his " Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle" (tome vii. 

 p. 459, Paris, 1827), M. Latreille further observes, in reference to 

 the Conops rujipes, — " II vit en etat de larve et de nymphe dans 

 I'interieur de I'abdomen des bourdons, et en sorte, lorsqu'il a subi 

 sa derniere metamorphose, par les intervalles des anneaux. C'est 

 un fait dont j'ai ete plusieurs fois temoin. II m'est souvent 

 arrive de trouver un ou deux individus de ce diptere dans des 

 boites ou j'avais renferme des bourdons." 



M. St. Fargeau, in the " Encyclopedie Methodique" (vol. x. 

 p. 819, 1828), observes, — " Nous-niemes avons vu des Conops 

 s'introduire dans le nid de certains especes du genre Guepe 

 (^espa)." 



In the " Comptes Rendus de I'Academie de Paris" for 1836 

 2de semestre, p. 688), a succinct report is given of some interest- 



VOL. IV. N. S. FT. VIII. JULY, 1858. X 



