REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 201 



rather hairy, yellow in geueral color, with brownish backs and red-brown 

 eyes. They belong to the family Oscinidae, and are quite closely related 

 to the wheat, rye, and barley flies belonging to the genera Meromyza, 

 CJdorops, and Oscinis. 



There are certainly two, and probably three, broods of this insect in 

 the course of a year, judging from the rapidity of the development of 

 those studied "the past season 5 and the insect x>robably winters in the 

 pupa state under ground. 



Specimens of the flies were sent to Mr. Edward Burgess, who pro- 

 nounced them to be a new species of the genus Oscinis, for which he 

 proposed the specific name of trifolU, and submits the following charac- 

 terization : 



Oscixis TRiFOLii, Burgess, sp. nov. 



Yellow : OeciiJut, ocellar triangle, dorsum of the tliorax and abdomen, spot on 

 coxae and on eacii side of scutellum, blacli. Scutellum with four black bristles. 

 Frout face, cheeks, and orbits of the eyes yellow; occiput and ocellar triangle black. 

 Antennae yellow ; bristle black, pubescent. Dorsum of thorax black, rest yellow. 

 Scutellum yellow with a narrow blackish spot on each side, extending to the base. 

 Bristles four, black. Dorsum of the abdomen black, margin and venter yellow. Tip 

 brownish. Wings transparent, veins brownish, at base yellow, 3d and 4th longitu- 

 dinals slightly divergent at tip. Halteres golden yellow. Legs pale yellow, tarsi iu- 

 fuscated at tip ; hind tarsi more so. Hind tibiae with a darker streak above. Coxae 

 with a dark spot 011 outside. 



Length of body, IJ""" : of wing, l^""". Habitat, District of Columbia. Larva mines 

 ■white clover leaves. — [Professor Comstock. 



THE MALLOW OSCINIS. 



{Oscinis malvae. Burgess [n. sp.].) 

 Order Diptera ; family Oscinidae. 



Making an irregular linear mine, first above the under, afterwards beneath the 

 upper surfjxce of the leaves of Malva rotundifoUa ; a minute, greenish white larva, 

 which leaves the mine to transform, and eventually becomes a small, bristly, black 



fly- 

 Quite closely allied to the clover Oscinis is another species of the same 

 genus, which has been studied the past season for the first time. The 

 eggs of the adult fly are laid singly upon the under surface of the leaves of 

 common mallow {Malta rotundifoUa) which the larva mine. The mine is 

 at first visible only from the under side of the leaf, as the larva keeps close 

 to the under skin. It is then so delicate as hardly to be perceptible to the 

 naked eye. In form it is linear and waving, increasing in diameter as it 

 progresses.' Wlien the larva is somewhat less than half-grown it 

 changes suddenly from the under to the upper side of the leaf, or from 

 just above the under skin to just beneath the upper, so that the mine is 

 no longer visible from the under surface. From the upper surface, how- 

 ever, it soon presents a most fantastical apj)earance, especially upon the 

 smaller leaves, where it is looped and knotted and twisted until it is 

 hard to distinguish beginning from end. The color of the mine upon 

 the upper surface is nearly white, while upon the lower surface it is 

 bluish green. A close examination shows an almost continuous string 

 of black excrement through the center of the mine. 



When full grown the larva is found in an enlargement of the mine be- 

 neath the upper surface. When ready to transform, it cuts a slit through 

 the bottom of the mine and droj)s to the ground from the under side of 

 the leaf. The full-grown larva is 2.5"™ (.097 inch) in length, and resem- 

 bles much in form that of the clover Oscniis. It is greenish-yellow in 



