22 ■ 



phizoa also may liave its ^'Nauplius " stage, and leave the egg as a swim- 

 ming branchiate animal. Whether this surmise be tr ae or false, the study 

 of these larvse leads irresistibly to the conclusion that Amphizoa and 

 Pelobius are related ancient types, isolated by the extinction of sur- 

 rounding forms and preserving synthetic resemblances to many exist- 

 ing families; the affinities of Amphizoa leaning towards the Carabidae 

 as those of Pelobius do towards the Dytiscidse. The larval charac- 

 teristics fully sustain the sound judgment of Dr. Horn in maintaining 

 for Amphizoa its position as the tj^e of a distinct family. 



THE BIPTEROUS PARASITE OF MELANOPLUS DEVASTATOR IN 



CALIFORNIA. 



By D. W. COQUiLLETT, Los Angeles, Cal. 



On the 22d of October, 1891, in a locality 10 miles fi?om Los Angeles, 

 while examining adult specimens of Melanoplus devastator, Scudder, in 

 quest of internal iDarasites, I found in one of them a dipterous larva 

 apparently nearly full grown. I then collected quite a large number 

 of these locusts and brought them home with me, and the next day five 

 larv{3e issued from one of them and soon afterward pupated. The flies 

 issued between the 10th and 13th of the following April. They belong 

 to the old genus Sarcophaga, but I am unable to identify them with 

 any of the published descriptions, and in the belief that the species is 

 new, present the following description of it: 



Sarcopliaga opifera n. sp. $ . — Front silvery-white pollinose. at narrowest point 

 one-seventh width of head; frontal vitta brown, half as wide as front at narrowest 

 point ; the two posterior pairs of frontal bristles directed backward, the others decus- 

 sate, reaching first third of second antennal joint; no orbital bristles; antennie, 

 dark brown, reaching three-fourths the distance to the oral margin; third joint 

 scarcely longer than the second ; arista black, two-jointed, basal joint as broad as 

 long, the second joint thickened on its basal two-fifths, plumose on its basal two- 

 thirds, bearing two loiig hairs on its lower side beyond the outermost one on its 

 upper side. Face silvery- white pollinose, but in certain lights showing a brassy 

 tinge ; sides of face with a single row of bristles near the eye, those on sides of central 

 depression ascending slightly above tip of antennae; cheeks one-third height of 

 eyes, densely bristly. Proboscis blackish, slightly shorter than height of. head; 

 palpi yellow-brown. Thorax light gray, usually marked with seven black strij^es, 

 but some of these are occasionally wanting; three pairs of subdorsal bristles behind 

 the suture. Scutellum gray; a pair of small apical and a second pair of discal 

 bristles, also two lateral pairs of much larger bristles. Abdomen gray, not distinctly 

 checkered, marked with three black vittse; each segment, except in middle of the 

 dorsum of the first, with a marginal row of bristles; hind margin of the last segment 

 and the genitalia yellow brown. Legs grayish black, all femora and tibiae bristly; 

 posterior tibiae not bearded within; claws as long as the last tarsal joint. Tegula 

 whitish-hyaline. AViugs grayish-hyaline, base of third vein bristly half way to 

 small cross-vein ; other veins bare, first posterior cell open, ending some distance be- 



