1881. ] Larval Habits of Bee-Fites. 441 
This habit in the larve of Bombyliids of preying on locust 
ege’s has not before been suspected, and in this connection we will 
review what has hitherto been known of their habits. 
Professor J. O. Westwood has given, in the Transactions of the 
Entomological Society of London, 1876, pp. 497, 498, the follow- 
ing summary of observations upon the larval habits of Bombylii: 
“Thanks to the researches of previous observers, the economy 
and transformations of the Bombylii are now satisfactorily known 
to entomologists. Latreille rightly considered that the Bombylii, 
like Anthrax, were parasites, contrary to the opinion of Zetter- 
stedt that the larvz feed on the roots of plants (Ins. Lapp., p. 
510). The pupa of Bom. major was first figured by M. Imhoff, in 
the /szs for 1834, having been found by him in a situation which 
he had previously noticed to be frequented by Andrena humilis 
(Vol. 1834 p. 536, pl. xii). In my Introduction (Vol. 1, p. 538, 
1840) I published a figure of the same pupa froma specimen discov- 
ered by M. C. Pickering in a sandy gravel-pit at Coombe Wood, 
on the 28th of March, from which the imago was produced ina few 
days. The pupa is very similar to those of the species of 
Anthrax, which are known to be parasites; having the front and 
under side of the head armed with strong spines, and the dorsal 
segments of the abdomen furnished with transverse rows of 
strong reflexed hooklets, In 1852, M. H. Lucas published the 
The last statement of Professor Westwood is, however, not 
justified by Dufour’s observations. On the contrary, Dufour ex- 
VOL, XV,—NO, VI. 31 
