24 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



which is so injurious to cheese. It is one of the 

 " Blow flies " which we speal< of in an article 

 on the Red-legged Ham-beetle (Sixth Mo. Ent. 

 Report, p. loo) and is quite injurious to hams in 

 St. Louis also, where we have proved its identity 

 with the Cheese Skipper. It is more than 

 probable that the suggestion which we made to 

 the Messrs Whittakcr, namel)-, to use a stronger 

 and heavier canvas, and to get all the canvasing 

 done before the first of May, would, if acted upon 

 in the present case, serve to protect the hams 

 from this " Skipper " as well as from the Ccttyiietes 

 treated of in the above named article. There is 

 little doubt but that the eggs are laid in the 

 storing house, on exposed places after the bag- 

 ging is done, while the distilleries in the neigh- 

 borhood can have no effect in increasing the 

 injury, because the species does not breed, so 

 far as we know, in anything about a distillery. 



Tipula Eggs in the Stomach of the Cat- 

 bird. — I send you by express, (i) the eggs (?) 

 from the stomach of a Cat-bird ; (2) also other eggs 

 (?) from the stomach of the same species. I write 

 with an interrogation, because, although I found 

 that the contents of the coreaceous flexible shells 

 were such as we sliould expect from an egg, 

 and gave the proper reaction with iodine and sul- 

 phuric acid, when I sent them to Dr. Hagen for 

 identification, he reported them to be the " seeds 

 of some plant." As he does not wish to make 

 identifications for persons at a distance, I think 

 he gave them too hurried an examination. You 

 will easily sati.'^fy yourself, however, on this point. 

 The first I refer to are black, oval, smooth, and 

 deeply concave on one side. The other, longer 

 eggs, have occured each time associated with 

 them. Ants are the only other element common 

 to all the stomachs in which these eggs are found. 

 S. A. F., Normal, Ills. 



A glance at the contents of the bird's stomach 

 sent by our correspondent shows that (i) the 

 highly polished, ebony black bodies, 0.8 mm. 

 long and 0.4 mm. wide in the middle, and looking 

 like miniature boats, being elongate-ovoid, rather 

 pointed at each end and flattened and somewhat 

 concave on one side, are the eggs of some species 

 of Crane-fly ( Tipula) ; while (2) the more elongate 

 coriaceous yellowish objects are the valves of the 

 female ovipositor. The particular species could 

 be ascertained by the wings or such fragments 

 thereof as are obtainable, together with the male 

 genitalia. Judging from the valves of the ovi- 

 positor referred to, one of the species will prove 

 to be Tipula trivillata Say. We have on several 

 occasions witnessed the laying of these eggs, 

 with which the female abdomen is literally 

 crowded, when gravid, to the number of about 

 300. The eggs are forced in the ground by means 

 of the double pair of valves, something as in the 

 case of our common locusts ; but they are so 

 readily and rapidly extruded, in confinement, as 

 to have led some authors to believe that they are 

 dropped while the parent is flying. 



Descriptive Department. 



NOTICE OP THREE NEW HTMBNOPTEROUS 

 PARASITES. 



BV E. T. CRESSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Anisopelma lycti. — S . Honey-yellow, shin- 

 ing ; head sub-globose, cheeks paler than re- 

 mainder of head ; tips of mandibles black ; eyes 

 cinereous ; antenna two-thirds the length of 

 body, setaceous, fuscous, pale at base ; meso- 

 thorax prominently trilobed, anterior lobe trans- 

 verse, divided by a feebly impressed longitudinal 

 line ; disk of mcsothorax depressed and rugose ; 

 metathorax rounded, subobsoletely reticulated; 

 wings hyaline, iridescent, nervures and stigma 

 fuscous, the latter conspicuous; legs, including 

 coxae, entirely luteous ; abdomen longer than 

 head and thorax, almost sessile, depressed at 

 base, convex and polished beyond middle of 

 second segment, the first and basal half of second 

 segments longitudinally aciculated ; ovipositor 

 nearly as long as the body, luteous, tipped with 

 black; the sheaths dull luteous, with the apical 

 third blackish. Length .12 inch. 



{, . Head, mcsothorax, scutelUim and apical 

 margin of the second and following segments 

 of abdomen piceous or fuscous ; mouth parts, 

 lower portion of cheeks, pleura and metathorax 

 dull honey-yellow ; eyes, antenna and wings as 

 in 9 ; legs and base of abdomen luteous-)-ellow ; 

 first and base of second segments feebly acicu- 

 lated. Length .06 inch. 



Received from Mr. Howard M. DuBois, as 

 parasitic on the larva of Lyctus sirialiis Say, or 

 " Powder-post worm," an insect destructive to 

 hickory timber, a full account of which is given by 

 by Mr. DuBois in "The Hub" for October i, 1S79. 



Anisopelma utilis. — ?. Honey-yellow, shin- 

 ing; vertex, eyes, mcsothorax and scutcllum 

 blackish ; head subglobose ; antenna; nearly as 

 long as the body, setaceous, slightly thickened 

 at tips, fuscous, paler at base and beneath ; mcso- 

 thorax depressed and roughened on disk ; meta- 

 thorax rounded and feebly sculptured ; wings 

 hyaline, iridescent, nervures and stigma pale 

 fuscous ; legs, with the coxje, entirel)' luteous, 

 tarsal claws black ; abdomen subsessile, de- 

 pressed, oblong-ovate, first and base of second 

 segments finely longitudinally aciculated, re- 

 mainder polished, third and following segments 

 tinged with pale piceous ; ovipositor rather 

 longer than abdomen, blackish, basal half pale. 

 Length .og inch. 



(5 . Face and sides of pleura dusky ; cheeks, 

 pleura beneath and metathorax dull honey-yel- 

 low ; abdomen narrower, shading into piceous 

 at tips ; otherwise as in S . Length .09 inch. 



Albany, N. Y. This and the following species 

 were received from Dr. J. L. LeConte as parasitic 

 on the larva of Trogoxyloii parallelopipedum Mels. 



Anisopelma minima. — S . Piceous ; face, 

 cheeks, pleura, sides of metathorax and legs, 

 dull luteous ; head large, subglobose ; antennae 

 long, setaceous, pale, rather more slender at 

 base ; metathorax rounded, roughened ; wings 

 hyaline, iridescent, nervures and stigma pale 

 fuscous ; abdomen subsessile, fusiform, shining, 

 the base and extreme apex pale brownish ; ovi- 

 positor about as long as the abdomen, sheaths 

 robust, pale, tipped with black. Length .06 inch. 



