44 



mer the grass lands in this section were withering and drying up under 

 a terrible drought. This corn-field had been poorly cultivated and the 

 lower portions grew up to grass and weeds, thereby forming a more 

 desirable locality for the females to lay their eggs. In other words, the 

 drought of August and September of 1888 drove the moths to the corn- 

 fields to oviposit, and the abundance of worms this year is the result. 



The thirty-six cutworms collected on May 28 were taken home and 

 immediately placed in a breeding cage, being fed upon clover duriug 

 the few days they remained above ground. The first moth appeared 

 on August 23, followed by others up to the 26th, when a medium-sized 

 Anthrax was also observed in the cage. As nothing could be found in 

 the literature at hand to indicate tha.t any of the Bombyliidce had ever 

 been reared from lepidopterous larvae, in this country, its occurrence 

 was supposed to be accidental, the larva having been in some way 

 taken up with the earth in the cage. It was followed, however, on Sep- 

 tember 1 by a second adult, and two more appeared on the 4th, others 

 appearing up to the 9th, when all doubts as to the host of these flies 

 were removed by two adults issuing from a couple of chrysalids laying 

 on the surface of the soil, the Anthrax leaving their empty pupa cases 

 protruding half way out from the chrysalids of the Agrotis. The flies 

 may be roughly described as from 10 to 13 mm in length, black, densely 

 covered with fine silky hairs, those on praescutum and episternum of 

 mesothorax, basal half of abdomen, and tuft on posterior margin of 

 penultimate segment being silvery white, changing to yellowish, espe- 

 cially on the shoulders. 



The same species was frequently observed, near the middle of Sep- 

 tember, hovering about over the surface of the ground under trees 

 recently denuded of their foliage by the larvae of Datana ministra. 

 thereby conveying the impression that they might be parasitic upon 

 that species also. 



As nothing whatever is known of the time and method of oviposition 

 of the Bombyliidce, it will only be safe to say that the eggs were depos- 

 ited either on or about the bodies of these cutworms prior to the 28th of 

 May. 



In a most excellent paper by Dr. Riley, in the Second Report U. S. 

 Entomological Commission, pp. 262-269, larvae of an allied species is 

 mentioned as infesting the egg-pods of Caloptenus spretus, being found 

 of different sizes during most of the year. From rearing this species, 

 Systa?chus oreas, O. S., Dr. Riley concludes that, " as a rule, but one year 

 is required for full development ; " but there is great irregularity and a 

 tendency to retardation of such development. 



Should the species under consideration be of similar habits, the eggs 

 would, as a matter of necessity, have been deposited last fall, the larvae 

 wintering over in the bodies of these cutworms, which are not usually 

 over half grown at the beginning of winter. If this be true it is 

 certainly an interesting feature of parasitism. 



