23 



fore apex of wing ; elbow of fourth vein forming a right angle, not appendiciilate ; pos- 

 terior cross-vein at last third of distance from small cross-vein to the elbow, slightly 

 more transverse than the last half of the apical cross-vein, the latter bowed inward 

 near its base; no costal spine. 



9 Diifering from the ^ as follows: Front neirly one-third width of head; frontal 

 vitta one-third width of front; two pairs of orbital bristles; cheeks nearly oue- 

 half height of eyes ; scutellum destitute of an apical pair of bristles ; claws much 

 shorter than in the <? . 



Length, 5 to 6'»"\ Described from three males and two females. 



The number of locusts infested by these parasites does not t^ppear to 

 be very large. In the locality where I observed them the locusts were 

 quite numerous, and yet not more than 2 x^ercent were infested with 

 these parasites. I notice that iu the September number of Insect Life 

 for 1889 (page 6S), Mr. C. L. Marlatt states that in a certain locality in 

 New Hamj^shire about 5 percent of the locusts examined by him con- 

 tained Tachinid or Sarcophagid parasites. 



Uj) to a comparatively recent date the different species of Sarcoph- 

 aga were very generally supposed to feed in the larva state upon 

 flesh, and for this reason were referred to as " Flesh-flies." And yet, 

 curiously enough, among all the works which I have been able, to con- 

 sult upon this subject I have been unable to find a single recorded 

 instance where a fly of this kind has ever been bred from flesh in this 

 country. On the other hand, I find several instances on record where 

 specimens of Sarcophaga have been bred from living insects. 



The earliest case of this kind is that recorded by the late Abbe 

 Provancher, who, in the second volume of Le NaturaUste Ganadien (p. 

 18) records having bred a specimen of Sarcophaga from a chrysalis of 

 the Cabbage Butterfly {Pieris rnpae Schrank). In his Seventh Report 

 on the Insects of Missouri (pp. 180-181), Prof. Riley records having 

 bred a species of Sarcophaga from various kinds of locusts, as also 

 from the Mantis [Stagmomantis Carolina Burm.), and from the common 

 Walking-stick {Diapheromerafemorata Say); and in the Fourth Report 

 of the U. S. Entomological Commission (p. 107), he states that a spe- 

 cies of Sarcophaga infests the larvaj and chrysalides of the Cotton 

 Moth {Aletia xylina Say). More recently Prof Townsend has char- 

 acterized, under the name of Sarcophaga cimhiclSj a species bred by Mr. 

 Aldrich from cocoons of the American Cimbex {Cimhcx americana 

 Leach; see the Canadian Entomologist for May, 1892, pp. 126-127). In 

 foreign countries Sarcophaga lineata is reported to prey upon locusts in 

 the vicinity of the Dardanelles, referred to on page 59 of Appendix 

 VIII, Third Rejiort of tlieU. S. Entomological Commission. And in the 

 Agricultural Gazette for May, 1891, is given a figure and descrip 

 tion of a two-winged fly which is stated to infest locusts in various 

 parts of Australia; this fly is there referred to the Tachiuidae, and to 

 the genus Masicera, but judgiUji^ from the figure and description it 

 clearly belongs to the Sarcophagidse. 



In order to give as far as possible a complete account of the known 



