12 



CROP PEST COMMISSION OF 



Information at hand indicates that there is a wide variation in 

 the habits of various species, for besides 

 finding the larva in water and in mud close 

 to water, they are found oftentimes in 

 dry ground long distances from water. Al- 

 though very young larva? do not take kindly 

 to artificial conditions, older specimens are 

 easily kept in breeding cages, and in all 

 cases observed, live as well in ground slight- 

 ly moist as they do in mud. They eat small 

 soft-bodied invertebrate animals of many 

 kinds, not excluding members of their own 

 family, or even of their own species. In 

 artificial rearing of these insects small earth 

 worms seem to answer well as food for the 

 larvae. 



It is always necessary to keep each 

 specimen in a separate dish or breeding 

 cage, for if two are placed together one is 

 almost sure to devour the other in course 

 of time. One hardly ever fails to obtain 

 the adult fly if older larvae are taken and 

 proper attention given. 



FIG. 5. Larva of 

 tho striped e>uiJy 

 (Chrysops vittatiix), 

 enlarged. (After 

 Hart, Bull. lilt?. Sc. 

 Lab.. Volume IV.) 



THE PUPA. 



The pupae in all species I have seen are dull yellowish in 

 coloration, with an encircling row of spines or stiff hairs at the 

 apical third of each abdominal segment, This stage is also much 

 the same in appearance in the different species, but there is a 

 striking difference in size, and this is of more consequence in the 

 pupa than in the larva, for in the larva difference in size may 

 indicate different ages of the same species as well as different 

 species, while difference in size of the pupa may be taken to 

 indicate different species only. 



Characters for distinguishing the pupa3 of different species 

 are found in the external breathing organs, or spiracles, and in 

 the teeth-like appendages located at the apex of the abdomen. 



