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SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT 



hop. The young maggots hatching from these eggs eat into the body 

 of the locust, and after rioting on the fatty parts of the body — leaving: 

 the more vital parts untouched — they issue and burrow in the ground, 

 where they contract to brown egg-like pupie, from which the fly issues 

 either in the same season or not till the following Spring. A locust 

 infested with this parasite is more languid than it otherwise would be;, 

 yet it seldom dies till the maggots have left. Often in pulling off the 

 wings of such as were hopping about, the bodies have presented the 

 appearance of a mere shell, filled with maggots ; and so efficient is 

 this parasite that the ground in parts of the western States is often 

 covered with the Rocky Mountain Locust dead and dying Irom this 

 cause. 



The Common Flesh-fly {SarcopTiaga carnaria^ Linn.) — This %, 

 which is at once distinguished from the Tachina-fly by the style of the 



antenna being hairy (Fig. 39, i^ instead . 

 of smooth, is also a great enemy of 

 the Rocky Mountain Locust, though I 

 think it must be looked upon more as 

 a scavenger than an active parasite,, 

 and that it is attracted more especially 

 to those specimens which are feeble 



Sarcophaga sarr.\ceni.e.— a, larva, &, ^„ „i „j„ A^n.A T U^xr^ -^^^r^X^r^A ;♦• 



pupa, c, fly, the hair lines showing averag4 or already dead. 1 have received it 



natural lengths; rf, enhirged head and tirst ., i m i • -l l -k 



joint of larva, showing curved hooks, lower among the lachiua parasites seut by 



lip {y), and prothoracic spiracles ; c, end of 



hody of same, showing stigmata (/) and pro- j^fr, Shattuck frOm Colorado, and frOllli 

 logs and vent; h, tarsal claws ot fly with pro- ' 



tectingpads; i, antenna of same-enlarged. l^^ofesSOr C. E. BeSSey, of AmeS, lowa,. 



who bred it from the Differential Locust, and published the following: 

 description of its work : 



A COMMENDABLE Fly. — Durino: the Siuninor I noticed that many of the large 

 yellow grasshoppers {Caloptetiits diife?-entia lis) •were infested by the maggot of a species 

 of fly very nearly resembling, if not identical with the common Flesh-fly {Sarcophaga 

 carinaria). Many of the grasshoj^pers were almost completely eaten out when found, 

 retaining just sufficient strength to hop feebly over the ground. I estimate that this 

 particular species of grasshopper was diminished in numbers at least one-tenth, possibly 

 one-eight, by these new friends. It is to be hoped that these new parasites will increase 

 rapidly. Professor C. V. Kiley informs me that the Migratory Locu.'^t [Caloptenus 

 spreius) is also infested by a similar one ; thus far, however, 1 have failed to detect any 

 in the specimens collected in this vicinity. 



I have also bred it from a number of our native Locusts whose 



carcasses — forsaken by the sarcophagous larvae — may quite frequently 



be seen fastened to the upright stems of different plants, in the Fall 



of th3 year. I have also bred it from the common Carolina Mantis*, 



* On the 18th of October, 18G8, at South Pass, Ills., I found fastened to a tree, a large female 

 Mantis, still alive, but with the abdomen hanging down, partially decompostd, and tilled witli Sarco- 

 phaga larvK. These remained in the larva state in the ground till the next July, but gave forth the flies 

 at the end of that month. The flies marked in my cabinet Sarcophaga carnaria, var. manlivora, ditter 

 iQ no respect from the common carnaria, except in size, seven not averaging more than 0.20 inch iu- 

 length. 



