THE AMERICAN ENIOMOI.OCWST. 



277 



Extracts from CorrI'Spondence, 



Diieaie of ChnMii<ic,n.itiiii-. i..iiv;i-. lim 



in({ llu; last <liiy» ol Scpiciiilji:] I uIwcivimI .ii 

 Scliiiii, Ala., oil a ii:i\ci: cniilimltiK a collDn liclil, 

 many liiin<lr(!<ls rif llir larv.r, of llic l'cn»ylvatiiaii 

 Soldier Hc(!ll(; {C/iiiiili(i;;ii(il/iii\ finitvlviiiiinis 

 Df'l.), Kcc i'"lK, 122, IjoiIi full-Krowii and yoiiriK. 

 most of ihcin slid' and doad, ollicrs in a dyin({ 

 condition, an<l »llll otIicrH aHccndlnx llic fonct;. 

 ThoHU •itill living had on all tin: HliKmalaa nniall 

 i|i(i|> of a wliilisli, odoilc'i'; llniil, laHllM« Koinr- 

 wliat like a rotten prar. In llio»e latva; wliii li 

 had recently died, IheHe ilro|m wiMe [dnk in 

 color, while in llione already deail for Home time 

 they were dried ii|). Thi» iliHease, very [jrohaljly 

 i>f a fungoid natnrc, destroyed many ihoiittands 

 ol ihesi! larvir. ; tint I conid not ohserve any 

 riiillicj dc:velo|imcnt of the riiiiKiiH, ihonKh I 

 visili;d the locality Hcvoral limes afteiwardn. 

 I he afFectcd larv;e simply dri<:d up, (irmly ad- 

 lierin« to the boards of the fence. 



I will add thai the larvKj of this beetle f:oidd 

 be frequently observed in the earlier part of 

 October, deslroyin({ the chrysalides of Alclia. 

 — K. A, Schwarz, Selma, Ala., fJclober latli. 



Hcrbivoroui Ground-beetlei,— /n the (October 

 riuiiiber of llie IC.N I oMoi.oiiis T, Mr. Wm. Trelcasc 

 records the finding of //(ir/iiilui calif;ini>int Say, 

 feeding upon Ihi; seeds of Ainhroiia nrtrmitiir- 

 folia, and asks whether it is common for prc- 

 daccoiis beetles to seek at limes a vi!;<elable 

 diet. 



1 cannot answer the (general ipieslions, but 

 desire to confirm his observations by slatinK that 

 in September, 1876, I witnessed the same phe- 

 nomenon which he has described. In a field of 

 several acres, nearly every plant of Ambrosia 

 had one or more beetles upon it, and they were 

 all llarpnhis cnlif;iiioiu\. I could delect no other 

 insects, and thouKli I did not make a note of it 

 at the time, my recollection Is that some of the 

 beetles appeared to be feeding upon the pollen 

 of the slaminate Mowers as well as upon seeds. 

 — Wm. A. iJuckhout, Stale CullcKC, Cenin- C'o , 

 Pa. 



About Phora being merely a Scavenger and 

 not a true Parasite.- 'I he opinion expressed by 

 Mr. Ilul;bard in your September number fp. 228) 

 about I'hora not being a true parasite, holds 

 good, no doubt, in the majority of cases. 

 Among the literature which I have collected on 

 the habits of Phora, I find only one direct slalc- 

 rncnt about larva; of this fly having developed in 

 a living insect. Mr. Jirischkc (Kleincrc Hcobach- 

 lurgen llbcr Insccten;, received from a coleoptcr- 

 ist some pupjr, and imagos of I'hnrn, with the re- 

 mark that the pupa; had come out of the anus of 

 a living Otmoderma. The friend very probably 



iMiMiil lo say that litnur had i-ome oiil and had 

 iniimilialrly lraiinfiiline(l Into pup-.e. The stale- 

 iriiiiisol Hoiichi'' (NaliMg, d, Ins., p. 101) are loss 

 (lirrii lie obtaiiHil larva; of /'liiini (lom snv- 

 r i.il '.pii icrii im of S/>lii>i.r cutii'iiliiiili ill raplivlly, 

 and lioiii caliMpillars of a 'J'iiiea, Alllioiigli he 

 does not say that; the Sphinxes and (alerpillais 

 were alive, when the larva- emerged fioin iliini, 

 we ari' jilslihed lu asHiiiiie from Ills woidiii)^ lli;il 

 the larvie of I'/mni hail lived In lliejr host, while 

 he was alive, allhoiigli liny may liavi' escaped 

 afHi di-;illi Hii'.rlike, (/.(,) also laki'S il llial 

 way. 



I'l'tris, ill Ills linrelr^ it 11 /'in uniiifimr, liad ex- 

 prrsseil the same opinion as Mr. Ilnlibard, lliat 

 till- larvse of I'lioni are scavengers, not parasites ; 

 but later (Ui'\ultah ilr i/iieli/iifi prumriiiiitex riiln- 

 iihiloKii/uft ; In Ann. Soc. Knt. I'r., i«73, p. 74) lie 

 confesses Ills doubts about the matter. Mo had 

 obtained a /'/iiira from the nyniph:e of 6V/fr/'«^//« 

 1-/iiiiirliil(i, these nyinpli-.r not showing any signs 

 of decay. Diirlis (Utit. I.nt. .1:17) and KondanI, 

 fAiti, etc., Milano, i8f)0) relate similar obser- 

 vations. In such cases, the larvie of I'horn may 

 have been riiniiiniriiut, without being piirinilr» 1 

 they may have killed the nymph;cand eaten their 

 contents. JCcttcrstodt's statement, " tii>vii(/'/iaia) 

 in dfolrufienmiriinii iminitit,teilf Mnrlilln " may, 

 or may not, refer lo a case parallel to that of Ot- 

 mmUniin. The case related by Goiireaii (Ann. 

 Soc. Knt. I''r. 1855, p. 21) of pupa; of I'linni, 

 found In a box, In which, for about a monlli, he 

 hail kept a pinned I'slthyiiii, is likewise not con- 

 clusive, because the /'liii/ir may have slipped In 

 ihebox and laid eggs on the putrescent specimen. 

 Still, there Is enough to show, In what precedes, 

 that there is something lo be learned yet about 

 Ihe habits of l'lwm,—V,. R, Ostcii Hackcn ; 

 Heidelberg, (Jcrmany, fJcl., 18S0. 



I We thank Haron Osten Sacken for these bibli- 

 ographical referenci's. Wlialevcr may be the 

 case with other species of this genus it is perfect- 

 ly clear that I'hora alrtiir cannot be considered a 

 parasite. We were of this opinion already in 

 1878, and for Ihls reason did not allude lo It 

 among the cncinics of Alella. Our experience 

 the past summer has fully confirmed this opin- 

 ion. Mr. Hubbard has made a number of Inter- 

 esting observations which prove in the first place 

 that the eggs are laid in masses not necessarily 

 upon the insect, and never upon living or healthy 

 insects. The larva; very soon attack any decay- 

 ing animal or vegetable substance, but while 

 they maybe thickly crawling about and over liv- 

 ing larva; they do not penetrate the same. We 

 suspect that this will be found lo be the general 

 habll of the genus, and thai where Ihe I'hora 

 larva; subsist on living insects (like Aphides) 

 they are lo be considered as carnivorous rather 

 than parasitic. — Ed, J 



