209 



stead of placing- it where the triungiiliu may itselt seek aud secure its 

 food, or where it may cliug- to aud be carried by the host female iuto 

 her cell. — [C. V. Riley, iu ^cienUfic American of November 19, 1892.] 



THE LARVA OF HARPALUS. 



Dr. J. A. Lintner, State Entomologist of New York, has recently 

 written us about a figure of a supposed Harpalus larva on page 97 of 

 our Ninth Report on the Insects of Missouri. In Dr. Lintner's bulletin 

 on "Cut- worms," page 25, he has reproduced this figure and has called 

 it Harpalus^ possibly caliginosus, whereas Saunders, in his " Fruit In- 

 sects," page 185, gives it as R. pennsylvanicus. We have intended for 

 some time to publish a statement concerning this figure, and this ques- 

 tion of Dr. Lintner's gives us the opportunity. The drawing was one of 

 our early ones, and was originally made for Walsh (see Amer. Ent., vol. 

 I, p. 34). We used it, but always with a query as to its nature. At 

 that time very little was known of Carabidous larvse, but from our sub- 

 sequent breeding of M.jyennsylranicus, and from the more recent litera- 

 ture, we now question whether the figure in question is that of a 

 Harpalus larva. The antenna? and tarsi of the figure remind one of a 

 Staphyliuid larva, but the markings of the abdomiual joint ijoint to- 

 ward the larva of a Pterostichus or an allied genus. At any rate, this 

 larva has never been bred. On the other hand, our Figure 27 of the 

 Ninth Report on the Insects of Missouri (reproduced in the First Rept. 

 U. S. Entom. Comm., p. 290, Fig. 24), is that of Harpalus.— [C. V. R.] 



DIPTEROUS LARV^ IN THE EYE OF A TOAD. 



In the '^Scertryh af Entom. Medd. 2. B. 2. H.," Dr. Fr. Meinert pub- 

 lishes a most interesting article under the title of "Larvfe Lucili* si). 

 in orbita Bufonis vulgaris." It seems that a toad was brought to him 

 which had been unfortunately killed in hot water before he saw it, in 

 the right eye of which were found seven small dipterous larvae, while 

 upon the back of its head were several eggs. After careful study, Dr. 

 Meinert decided that these larva^ belonged to some species of the genus 

 Lucilia, and was inclined to think that they hatched from the eggs ob- 

 served upon the skin of the back of the head, and made their way from 

 that point to the eye. He reviews the literature of dipterous larva? in- 

 habiting the Bufonidse, and shows that the general consensus of opin- 

 ion concerning cases previously observed has been that the larvse found 

 did not primarily attack the healthy animal, but that the eggs were 

 laid upon injured individuals in sores and cancerous spots. The case 

 described by himself, however, indicates that here, at least, the attack 

 was primary. The Di]>terous larvae were killed with the toad, so that 

 there was no opportunity to rear the adult fly. 



