JJo. 1. ] Miscellaneous Notes. 25 



Carpomyia parctalina, a new species which belongs to the group of Mus- 

 cidse distinguished by Rondani as TepJiriloidi, and is hence allied to 

 Tephritis onopord'inns,Ys}n\, which, according to IMiss Ormerod, mines 

 the leaves of celery and i)arsnips in Europe. Mons. Bigot^s description 

 of the species will be found on page 50. 



According to Mr. Clegliorn^s observations, which were made in Peshin 

 (5j000 feet), the Baluchistan Melon Fly hybernates as a pupa from Sep- 

 tember, and in some cases from July, until April, two or more genera- 

 tions being gone through in the summer months, the later broods 

 being especially numerous and destructive. The insect passes about 

 four days in the e^^ stage, fourteen days in the grub stage, thirteen 

 days in the pupa stage, and twenty days as an imago : its cycle of exis- 

 tence therefore consists of something over a month. The egg is deposit- 

 ed in the rind, several eggs being often laid in a single hole. The egg- 

 laying is chiefly done in the morning, the fruit selected for oviposition 

 being usually very young, sometimes with flowers still attached. The 

 eggs hatch about four days after they are laid and the grubs work their 

 way towards the seed pulp. The passage grows together behind them as 

 they advance, so that a few days after the egg is laid, the hole in the 

 rind closes up and the tunnel disappears, leaving no sign of attack. The 

 maggot therefore cannot obtain air from the exterior, and it is supposed 

 that it breathes the air contained in the seed cavity. This view 

 appears to receive confirmation from Mr, Cleghorn's observation that in 

 cucumbers and vegetable marrows, in which there is little or no seed 

 cavity, the young grubs remain near to the original hole in the rind, 

 eating out a cavity in the pulp, and only making their way towards the 

 seeds when they have eaten out so large a quantity of the pulp that 

 there is no chance of the passage filling up behind them. When about 

 a fortnight old the maggot becomes full fed ; it is then much like a 

 small grain of rice in general appearance, and has its mouth armed with 

 a pair of hooked mandibles and its posterior end provided with the usual 

 paired breathing organs. When full fed, the maggot cuts its way out 

 of the melon and pupates in the ground, where, in the summer time, it 

 remains about a fortnight before emerging as a fly, and where the 

 autumn brood hybernates until the spring. The life of the fly itself is a 

 brief one, about twenty days being the longest that it has been found to 

 live, even when plentifully supplied with melon pulp upon nhich it feeds. 

 When a melon contains numerous grubs, it becomes stunted and does not 

 develop, but when not more than five or six grubs are present, growth 

 does not seem to be interfered with, unless indeed the grubs cut their 

 way out, in which case the fruit decays. Jn the case of well-grown fruit, 

 which is full of juice, the grub always cuts its way out of the upper 

 portion, — apparently in order to avoid being choked by the juice. — the 

 practice therefore of constantly turning the fruit in the sun to ripen it 



