339 
box containing a partially decomposed watermelon. The juices of the 
melon had passed through the cracks in the bottom of the box, com 
pletely saturating the earth beneath it, and in this moistened soil the 
larva 1 were running riot. They were first observed December 10, and 
two of them assumed the adult form on the 24th of the same month, 
the date of pupation not having been noted. 
Iu Europe, Gerckehas bred this species from mushrooms, while other 
members of this genus have been bred from decaying vegetable and 
animal substances, including insects, from garden mold, mushrooms, 
the nests of wild bees, etc. 
Fig. 32.— Cyrtoneura crcsia : «, larva: /, adult— greatly enlarged; b, anal end of larva; e, bead of 
larva; g, head of adult— still more enlarged; c, anal spiracular orifice of larva; d, thoracic spiracular 
opening of same: //, antenna of adult — still more highly magnified (original). 
The question naturally arises, Did the larvae observed by Professor 
Gillette really cause the death of the squash-vines, or were they sim- 
ply scavengers that had followed the workings of some other insect? 
In England an allied species, the Cyrtoneura stabulans, is reported to 
have been bred from onions infested with larva? of Phorbia ceparum, 
but in this instance the last-named insect was the destructive one, 
while the Cyrtoneura evidently acted as a scavenger. May not the 
case recorded by Professor Gillette be of precisely the same nature as 
this one? 
