INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 531 
Famity DORILAIDAE (PIPUNCULIDAE) 
The Big-Eyed Flies 
The big-eyed flies are small dark flies with large heads, mostly com- 
posed of large approximated eyes. The body is thinly clothed with 
fine hairs. The larvae are elliptical, narrowed anteriorly with ob- 
scure segmentation. Anterior spiracles are present, and the posterior 
spiracles are subdorsal from the anal end. The puparia are oval, 
rounded at both ends, and very deep reddish brown. 
The adults frequent flowers and low herbage, and are sometimes 
fairly common. So far as known, all the species are parasitic on 
Homoptera and Heteroptera. Several species have been bred from 
cicadellids and mirids. 
Famity CONOPIDAE 
The Conopidae are thinly pilose flies with the head broader than the 
thorax and usually with a constricted abdomen with conspicuous 
genitalia. The first basal wing cell is long and the apical cell is always 
narrowed or closed. 
Adults of this family are slow in flight and are easily captured on 
flowers. Most of the species are parasitic on bees and wasps, and 
one species has been recorded as a parasite of Orthoptera (grasshop- 
pers and crickets). 
Famity TACHINIDAE 
Most of the tachinids are stout, bristly flies characterized by a well- 
developed postscutellum and hypopleural bristles. 
The larvae (fig. 128, 7) are usually cylindrical or elongate-oval 
with 11 segments, exclusive of the head, and are clothed with more 
or less interrupted bands of minute spinules. The posterior spiracular 
plates of the puparium are flush or raised, rarely without a button 
or situated in a depression. 
With the exception of a few species (Hubiomyia spp., Frycia spp., 
and others), which are parasitic on predaceous Coleoptera, most of 
the family are beneficial and of considerable economic importance. 
It would appear that few, if any, leaf-feeding lepidopterous species 
are immune from tachinid attack. By no means are the hosts re- 
stricted to the Lepidoptera, for species of at least five other orders are 
likewise found attractive. A few tachinids are known to be parasitic 
on sowbugs and snails. 
Outstanding among the more common native tachinids, both with 
respect to field-collected and bred specimens, are Achaetoneura 
frenchii (Will), Eworista mella (Wlkr.), and Neophorocera clari- 
pennis (Macq.). Each of these species has over a score of lepidop- 
terous hosts, many of which are injurious. Particularly favorable 
hosts are the tussock moths (Hemerocampa spp.), tent caterpillars 
(Malacosoma spp.), fall webworms (Hyphantria spp.), and the 
Datanas. The species of Winthemia are probably as common and as 
well known as any of the tachinids. The species are superficially 
similar, and one or another of them are present throughout the season. 
All deposit similar macrotype eggs on the host larva. Because of 
these facts, there is much difficulty in identifying these parasites by 
their host insects. Winthemia datanae Town. and its variety are 
perhaps the most abundant. 
