319 



« 

 On the 2d of December, 1888, 1 found a small Coleopterous larva that 



was at that moment busily engaged in gnawing its way into a pupa- 

 rium of a Syrphid fly {Copesfylum marginatum Say), which, in the larva 

 state, lives in the semiliquid substance in the interior of decayed 

 cactus leaves {Opuntia engebnanni Salm.). The larva was only 2.5 milli- 

 meters long, and worked very actively, appearing to stand on its head 

 and waving its abdomen about in its efforts to penetrate the skin of the 

 puparium. At the expiration of 24 hours it had completely buried itself 

 in the interior of the puparium, and I saw nothing more of it for a 

 whole month, when it issued through an irregular hole in the upper 

 side of the puparium and soon afterwards spun an irregular, thin, tough, 

 white cocoon in the bottom of the breeding cage. The beetle issued 

 about 11 weeks later. 



After the discovery of this larva and its curious habits I collected 

 quite a number of the puparia of this fly and succeeded in obtaining 

 from them over two dozen larvae similar to the one reterred to above; 

 all of these in due time spun their cocoons, entered the pupa state, and 

 were finally changed to beetles. Some of these were submitted to Pro- 

 fessor Eile}' who identified them as belonging to Maseochara valida 

 Leconte ; and they agree very well with specimens of this species named 

 for me a few years ago by Dr. Horn. This species is quite common 

 around Los Angeles in early spring, but I can not find any mention of 

 it in the various published lists of Coleoptera occurring east of the 

 Eocky Mountains. 



The full-grown larva, after issuing from the puparium in which it has 

 lived, very closely resembles Figure 393, page 447, of Packard's well- 

 known " Guide to the Study of Insects." In his figures of Staphylinid 

 larvcne (i.e., Figures 386, 387, and 388), and also in Schaupp's figure of the 

 larva of Staphylinus vulpinus (Bulletin Brooklyn Ent. Soc, vol. iii, 

 Plate 10, Fig. F), the head is larger in proportion to the body, the latter 

 is more slender and elongated, and the structure of the last abdominal 

 segment is altogether different from that of the Maseochara larva above 

 referred to. ^STone of these species, however, belong to the same tribe 

 as the latter. 



It is interesting to note that all of the rove beetles referred to above 

 as being predaceous or parasitic belong to only three very closely re- 

 lated genera, and that all of the insects preyed upon by them belong 

 to the Diptera, and that, too, to the group which pupate within the 

 hardened skins of the larvae. 



PHOSPHORESCENT MYRIOPODS. 



By Lawrence Brunkk. 



The note on " Phosphorescent Centipedes" in the November number 

 of Insect Life (Vol. in, No. 4, p. 173) calls to mind a very interesting 

 experience which the writer had with these light-emitting myriopods 

 24998— No. 7 2 



