92 



CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 



Fig. 52. —Euphorocera claripennis: Adult and enlarged antenna 

 of same, puparium. Enlarged. (Original.) 



OTHER TACHINID PARASITES. 



A single adult of Euphorocera claripennis Macq. (fig. 52) was reared from the range 

 caterpillar. Siphoplagia anomala Towns, was observed among the Hemileuca larvae 

 but no adults were reared from them. Winthemia quadripustulata Fab. was a common 



parasite on Heliophila albilinea in 

 the same locality, but did not 

 seem to attack Hemileuca larvae, 

 as none was reared therefrom. 



OTHER INSECT ENEMIES. 



August 12, 1909, near 

 Koehler, X. Mex., a rob- 

 ber fly, Stenopogon picti- 

 cornis Loew (fig. 53), was 

 observed attacking a 

 Hemileuca caterpillar and 

 feeding upon it. Subse- 

 quently a number of dead 

 larva? were found in loca- 

 tions where these flies were 

 numerous, and the pre- 

 sumption was strong that 

 the flies had caused their death, although none was seen actually at- 

 tacking the caterpillars. The dead larvae were noticed over a com- 

 parativelv limited area and the robber-fly attack appeared to be local. 



October 11, 1909, a fe- 

 male Hemileuca moth was 

 seen, on the Captain 

 French ranch, a captive of 

 one of these robber flies 

 (Erax vari pes Will.). The 

 large dipteron was half 

 running, half flying, with 

 its bulky prey and was 

 making its way rather rap- 

 idly across the country. 

 This was the only instance 

 seen of any sort of attack 

 upon the adult Hemileucas 

 during observations cover- 

 in£ two years of the adult 

 period, with hundreds of 

 thousands of moths under close study during that time. 



MITES. 



A small red mite, Rhyncholophus sp., occurs at times on the Hemi- 

 leuca larvae, but seldom in any great numbers. As many as six have 



Fig. 53.— Robber fly, Stenopogon picticornis. 

 natural size. (Original.) 



Xot quite twice 



