Fig. 2Q.— AxTHOirriA radtcum.— a, 

 larva; b, pupa: fly to right. (After 

 Curtis.) 



288 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



smoky and iridescent. There are three dusky longitudinal stripes on 

 the thorax, most distinct anteriorly, and another along the middle 

 of the abdomen, most distinct in the male, which also differs from the 

 female in the la^rger eyes, which meet much more closely on the top of 

 the head than in the female, and in the face being whiter." 

 The species passes the winter mostly in the pupa state, though 



doubtless also to some extent in the per- 

 fect state. It may be found in all stages 

 of growth during the autumn months until 

 just before winter sets in, and again during 

 the spring months. 



"The flies of this genus are character- 

 ized by the shortness of the antennae, and 

 by the attenuated abdomen. The charac- 

 ters given to it are, however, by no means 

 uniform, and as the species generally bear 

 a very close resemblance to each other, and 

 there have been a large number described in Europe (many of them very 

 imperfectly), it becomes almost an impossibility to properly determine 

 them. As the sexes often differ materially, it is also, except where they 

 are reared from the larva, difficult to connect them ; and as the colors 

 often become sordid and dull in the cabinet, many of the described 

 species have no real existence." 



The flies frequent flowers, and often congregate and play in swarms 

 in the air. Their eggs are white, smooth, oval, about 0.04 inch long, and 

 are dropped near the food of the larva. In the larva state, these insects 

 mostly feed on leguminous plants, and the carnivorous habit is excep- 

 tional. The species affecting the Cabbage, the Onion, the Eadish, &c., 

 have received different names, as hrassicce^ ceparum^ rapliani, &c., but 

 it is doubtful whether they are all good species. The egg-feeding species 

 under consideration was originally described by Mr. Eiley as a variety 

 {calopteni) of A. radicum, L.; but through the kindness of Mr. E. H. 

 Meade, of Bradford, England, who has paid especial attention to the 

 genus, and who has examined specimens we sent him, we learn that it 

 is the A. angustifrons of Meigen.^^ Compared with A, radicum (Fig. 22) 

 the epistoma is less prominent, the abdomen narrower and not so dis- 

 tinctly marked with black along the middle and, transversely, at the 

 sutures; while the male has, along the whole length of the inner or 

 anterior sides of the hind tibiee, a characteristic row of fine, rigid hairs, 

 of even length, like a fine comb. 



Anthomyia axgustifroxs, 'Me\gen.—Egg. — Oval, smooth, \rliite, 0.04 inch long. 



Larva. — Skin unarmed, 0.24 inch long -when extended, of the normal form, the man- 

 -dibular hooks black, quite conspicuous, and diverging at base. Prothoracic spiracles 

 elongate. Aoal spiracles minute, yellowish-brown, with the 8 fleshy surrounding 

 tubercles, small. 



5' It is the Aricia fuscipes, Zett., and belongs to the subgenus Chortophila, Macqaart. 



