April 27, 1S83.] 



SCIENCE. 



333 



by being more active, and somewhat different in 

 structure (Hep. JJ. S. ent. comm., ii. 267). Mr. Adam 

 Handlirsch of Vienna has recently published ' a most 

 Interesting account of the life-liistory of the Euro- 

 pean Hirmoneura obscura Meigen, which tends to 



Fig. 1. — a, a, a, femnies ovipositing 



ws of Anthaxia; 6, 

 (After Brauer.) 



confirm this opinion. Hirmoneura is the only genus 

 we have in the United States belonging to the Neme- 

 strinidae, — a family so closely allied to the Bom- 

 byliidae, that Mr. Handlirsch's observations are of 

 especial interest in this connection. I condense from 

 it the following facts, and borrow the chief figures 

 illustrating them. 



Herr Handlirsch first succeeded, in July, in observ- 

 ing the act of oviposition; the female fly inserting 

 her ovipositor deeply Into the old burrows of small 

 wood-boring insects (probably Anthaxia) in a pine 

 fence surrounding a jjasture. The eggs, laid in clus- 

 ters, were actually found within these burrows. Upon 

 investigation, however, it was found that the fence- 

 rails did not contain galleries sufficiently large to have 

 been made by the Hirmoneura larvae ; but hundreds 

 of its pupae and pupa skins 

 were discovered in the pas- 

 ture, protruding from the 

 ground, and mostly held up- 

 right by their terminal hooks. 

 Male and female flies were 

 also observed issuing from 

 these pupae; while, in the 

 ground under the pupae, the 

 exuviae of the full-grown Hir- 

 moneura larvae were, in every 

 instance, found at a depth 

 of about one-half decimetre. 

 Still deeper were found the re- 

 mains of the pupa of a large- 

 sized lamellicorn beetle, which jiroved to be the com- 

 mon Rhizotragus solstitialis. In one instance Mr. 

 Handlirsch also found the full-grown Hirmoneura 

 larva just issuing from the abdomen of the Rhizotra- 



^ Die metamorphose und lebenswelse von Hirraoneur.a ob- 

 scura Meig., einem vertreter der dipterenfamilie jSTemestrinidae. 

 — iWien ent. zeit., 1882, 224-228; 1883, 11-15, tab. 1.) See also 

 Dr. Fr. Brauer's Erganzende bemerkungen, etc. — (Ibid.^ 1883, 

 26, 26.) 



gus pupa. Finally he succeeded in following up the 

 early history of the young larvae. They issued in 

 great numbers from the aforementioned burrows in 

 the pine fence, and, placing themselves in an upright 

 position at the entrance of the burrows, allowed 

 themselves to be blown 

 away by the wind. 

 They have so far not 

 been followed from this 

 point to full growth as 

 a parasite on the pupa 

 of the Rhizotragus; 

 and some interesting 

 facts yet remain to be 

 discovered. The new- 

 ly-hatched larvae can 

 live a long time with- 

 out food, as one of 

 them, hatched on Aug. 

 17, was kept in confine- 

 ment until Oct. 29. 



But the most inter- 

 esting point in connec- 

 tion with these discov- 

 eries is the structtire 

 of the young larvae. 

 It is unnecessary to 

 enter into the descrip- 

 tive details given by 

 Mr. Handlirsch. I 

 merely wish to point 

 out, that the young 

 Hirmoneura larva is 

 distinguished from the full-grown larva by its slender 

 form, somewhat different structure of the mouth- 

 parts, but principally by the presence of ventral pseu- 

 dopods bearing long and hooked setae. Joints 6-12 

 are each provided with one pair of these pseudopods, 

 bearing a stout seta hooked at tip, with the hook 

 pointing backward ; while the thirteenth joint bears 

 two pairs of similar setae, but with the hooks directed 

 forward, thus assisting the larva in taking a firm 

 hold, and in assuming an erect position. There is 

 no trace of these setae in the full-grown larva, which 

 strongly resembles those I have figured of the Bom- 

 byliids. 



It is probable that this young Hirmoneura larva 

 moves quite readily by the aid of these ventral append- 

 ages, and that it clings to the female Rhizotragus, and 



5 at bottom of burro 



.hatched larva, greatly enlai'ged. (After Handlirsch.) 



is carried into the ground by her when she enters the 

 same to oviposit ; and it is highly probable that the 

 newly-hatched Bombyliid larva has similar organs 

 that facilitate locomotion. I am inclined to believe 

 that the hooked setae of Hirmoneura would rather 

 impede than facilitate burrowing, and that they per- 

 form rather the same service as the tarsal ungues 

 and anal spinneret of those Meloid triungulins which 

 fasten to burrowing-bees in order to be carried where 



