DIPTERA. 107 
Unfortunately there is yet some doubt as to whether Fitch’s species will hold. 
Brauer, in his Monograph of the (stride, page 232, quotes Fitch’s description at 
length, and states that he can not separate the species from Cuterebra scutellaris 
Loew, a North American species, the habits of which do not seem to be known. 
If this interesting insect has not attracted much attention of late years from 
entomologists, it has not failed to be noticed by zoologists and taxidermists, although 
we are not aware that observations have been published, The following statement 
was written at our request by Dr. Merriam, the ornithologist of the Department, as 
we had learned by conversation that he had made notes some years ago on the abun- 
dance of the insect in New York State: 
“In reply to your inquiry concerning the occurrence of Cuterebr in squirrels, I 
would state that during many years collecting in the Adirondack region of northern 
New York, particularly along its western border, in the Black River Valley, I fre- 
quently found Cuterebre in or near the scrotum in the gray squirrel (Sciurus carolin- 
ensis leucotis), red squirrel (Sciurus hudsonius), and chipmunk ( Tamias striatus lysteri). 
I have observed the same thing at East Hampton, Mass., and in other localities. 
The most extraordinary instance of the prevalence of this disgusting parasite that 
has fallen under my observation was at the south end of Lake Champlain, New 
York, in October, 1885. On the 7th and 9th of that month I killed more than fifty 
chipmunks (Tamias striatus lysteri) within a few miles of old Fort Ticonderoga and 
on the rocky side hill behind the town of Whitehall. Of these a very large percent- 
age—I think fully one-half—were infested with ‘‘wabbles” (Cuterebr). More 
females than males were thus afflicted. The ‘‘ wabbles” were usually situated near 
the median line, and anywhere from the umbilical region to the genitals. In a few 
cases they were in the axilla, and in one or two instances in the upper part of the 
foreleg. In a number of individuals two Cuterebre were found and in a few cases 
as many as three. 
“Dr. A. K. Fisher tells me that he collected a number of chipmunks about the 
south end of Lake George, Warren County, N. Y., during the latter part of August 
and first of September, 1882, a considerable proportion of which were infested with 
Cuterebrie. As many as three were found, in different stages of development, in 
one animal, A gray squirrel killed at Sing Sing, Westchester County, N. Y., con- 
tained a Cuterebra in the left pectoral region.” 
It is very possible that the larve of more than one species of the genus Cuterebra 
were concerned in the cases noticed by Drs. Merriam and Fisher, but this point can 
not be decided at the present time. * * * 
Concerning the capture of the specimen, which was from a female chipmunk, Mr. 
Starkweather wrote, October i9, 1888: 
“About noon on the 13th my children’s pet kitten came in from the grove near 
our house, in the Rock Creek region, with a ‘chippy’ in its mouth. They rescued 
it at once, but, although warm, life was extinct. The strange appendage, or abnor- 
mal growth which they noticed on the under side, caused them to lay it away care- 
fully in an empty covered cigar box ‘to show papa.’ 
‘“‘My attention was called to it twenty-four hours later, when the dark-colored 
maggot was found in one corner of the box nearly motionless. They described the 
‘swelling’ as about an inch long and of the shape of a mulberry. ‘There seemed to 
be a natural opening at its apex over a sixteenth of an inch in diameter with a tinge 
of a dark liquid about it.” 
Subsequent inquiry has revealed the fact that squirrel hunters in this vicinity 
report that these grubs are very abundant around Washington in the common gray 
squirrel, one gentleman, with that freedom from fact-bias characteristic of the 
amateur hunter, stating that he never shot a squirrel which was not infested by 
grubs. We will doubtless, therefore, have opportunities for rearing the adult and 
comparing it with Loew’s scutellaris. 
The larva has already been well described by Fitch, and our figures will illustrate 
its appearance. The specimen from which they were drawn was evidently full- 
grown, and has entered the earth in a breeding jar. 
