268 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I915. 



Stems. In the laboratory a part pupated on the cheesecloth in 

 the berry dishes but the majority entered the sand or dirt. On 

 the cheesecloth they spun cocoons before transforming to pupae, 

 while in dirt no cocoon seems to be spun, but a little cavity 's 

 hollowed out by contorting the body. The silk appears to be 

 secreted from glands opening on either side of the penultimate 

 segment, but no detailed study was made of this point. From 

 12 to 14 days are required after leaving the berry before the 

 adult midge appears. About half the time is spent as a pupa 

 and half as a prepupa. 



Only a very small proportion of the larvae that left the fruit 

 ever emerged as adults. The pupae are extremely delicate and 

 die unless conditions are exactly suitable. July i8, 1914, is 

 the earliest record for the emergence of an adult. 



There is probably a partial second generation as the writer 

 has found eggs in early August and small larvae at various 

 times through the month. 



Technical Description. 



Adults were submitted to Dr. Ephraim Porter Felt of the State Mu- 

 seum, Albany, N. Y., who determined them as a new species, Lasioptera 

 fructuaria. In the key which he has prepared it runs near L. michellae 

 Felt from which he states that it can be easily separated by colorational 

 characters and by the presence of well developed hooks upon the ovi- 

 positor. 



Doctor Felt described the adults of both sexes as well as the larva 

 and has very kindly given me permission to publish his descriptions 

 which are printed here for the first time. 



Adult male. (Description by Doctor Felt). Length 1.5 mm. An- 

 tennae yellowish brown, the two basal segments yellowish; 15 or 16 seg- 

 ments, the fifth with a length one-half greater than the diameter, the 

 terminal segment roundly conical, with a length one-fourth greater than 

 its diameter. Palpi : the first segment narrowly oval, with a length 

 three times its diameter, the second a little longer than the first, slender, 

 the third two-thirds the length of the second, more slender, the fourth 

 about as long as the third. Mesonotum shining dark brown. Scutelluni 

 yellowish brown, postscutellum fuscous yellowish. Abdomen : basal 

 segment yellowish or whitish, the other segments dark brown, narrowly 

 margined apically with yellowish or whitish. Genitalia fuscous yellowish. 

 Wings hyaline, the third vein uniting with the costa just beyond the basal 

 half. Legs a nearly uniform fuscous yellowish; claws slender, strongly 

 curved, the pulvilli as long as the claws. Genitalia : dorsal plate deeply 

 and triangularly emarginate, the lobes obtusely and irregularly rounded; 

 ventral plate indistinct in the preparation. Harpes long, slender, the 

 apices slightly divergent, subtruncate. 



