28 



BULLETIN 156, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



this opinion, as the larvae in question from Inman, Nebr., are alive 



at the present writing (October, 1914). 



A gamasid was found attached to the body of an adult of Alaus 



oculatus at St. Louis, Mo., by Mr. E. R. Fisher. This mite was 



under the wing covers. 1 Another mite {Chelifer alaus) is recorded 2 



as a parasite of the adult Alaus oculatus. 



The writer has published 3 a record of a fly (Thereva egressa Coq.) 



the larva of which actually attacks and feeds upon wireworms. The 



larva was found in a wheat field 

 near Pullman, Wash., and when 

 found had its head and first 

 four anterior joints within the 

 body of a wireworm and was 

 eating out the insides. This 

 larva was brought into the 

 insectary and fed upon wire- 

 worms, of which it ate usually 

 two a day. On June 10 it 

 pupated, and on June 24 the 

 adult fly emerged. Two other 

 species of There vi das (Psilo- 

 cephala aldrichii Coq. and P. 

 munda Coq.) were reared by 

 the writer from larvae taken 

 in the field, associated with 

 wireworms, in the Pacific 

 Xorthwest. These flies in 

 their larval stages are prob- 

 ably predaceous on elaterid 

 larvae. Forbes mentions 4 

 rearing a parasitic fly from an 

 elaterid larva. A Procto- 

 trupes has been reared from 

 an elaterid larva in England 



by Curtis. 5 In the same work Curtis refers to a similar record by 



Bierkander. 



Fig. 8. — A horned toad (Phrynosoma douglasii 

 doaolasii), an enemy of the western wire- 

 worms. (Original.) 



1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Ent., Note 165R, July 21, 1889. 



2 Leidy, J. Remarks on the seventeen-year locust, the Hessian fly, and a Chelifer. In 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. gci. Phila. [v. 29], 1877, p. 260-261, June 19, 1877. 



3 Hyslop, J. A. Therera egressa. In Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., v. 12, No. 2, p. 98, June 

 15, 1910. 



4 Forbes, S. A. Insects Insects to the Seed and Root of Indian Corn. Univ. of 111. 

 Agr. Exp. Sta., Bui. 44, p. 228, May, 1896. 



5 Curtis. John. Farm Insects, p. 181. London, 1860. 



