35 
In a Chicago newspaper clipping received in August mention is 
made of an "outbreak of sparrows" in one portion of Chicago where 
they were attracted in thousands by "grub worms." It seems prob- 
able that they were also destroying fall army worms which were rav- 
aging the lawns in that city at the time. 
September 1 Mr. Deering, of Chicago, wrote that the larvae had 
nearly all disappeared at that time, evidently having gone into the 
ground, and that birds, especially nickers, were very efficacious in 
lessening the numbers of the pest. 
Among larvae that were received at this office from Rives, Md. , were 
a few that were parasitized, as was shown by the eggs of a Tachinid 
fly present on their bodies on or near the thoracic segments. From 
these the adults were obtained from the 4th to the 9th of September, 
and were identified by Mr. Coquillett as Wintkemia quadripustulata 
Weid., 1 or red-tailed tachina fly, a species of wide distribution in the 
United States and Europe and a well-known parasite of this pest. 
During the fall of 1884 at least 50 per cent 
of the larvae collected in Illinois showed the 
eggs of this parasite. 
This Tachina fly is figured herewith (fig. 5). 
Until comparatively recent times the Ta- 
china flies were generally believed to be 
among the most effective destro} T ers of the 
common army worm and related species, but fyf. 
observations have now shown the fallacy of fig. 5.— wintkemia u-pustuiata fly, 
, t . , -. . j. ^ , i . i T t\ tt J ' i with larva at left and puparium 
this belief. On this head Dr. Howard has • atright; forepartof the bodyof 
written 2 that he had searched for hours in army worm with Tachina eggs 
n tj •,-! "ji i attached below— somewhat en- 
grass fields overrun with army worms without larged (from Comstock . ) 
finding a single specimen of the "worm" 
which did not bear upon its back the eggs of Wintkemia I^-pustulata, 
but that a very large proportion of these eggs failed to hatch through 
the molting of the caterpillars attacked. He cites observations made 
by Professor Fernald and his assistants in their work upon the gypsy 
moth in Massachusetts. In the case of 235 caterpillars of this moth, 
which bore from 1 to 33 eggs on each individual, 226 produced moths, 
and only 4 of the dipterous parasites were obtained from the entire 
number. The caterpillar which had 33 eggs upon it molted before any 
of them hatched, and eventually emerged as a moth in good condition. 
1 This Tachinid is the same as described by Dr. Williston under the name Exorista 
infesla in Professor Forbes' s report on the fall army worm (25, p. 65), and is also 
known to attack the common army worm and the larvae of various cutworms and 
other injurious Ncctuidaj and Bombycidfe. The list included up to 1896 fourteen 
hosts. This list is given in full in Bulletin No. 7, technical series, of this Division 
(pp. 21, 22) , where also its distribution, characters, and synonymy are discussed. 
2 Tech. Series, No. 5, Div. Ent., p. 51. 
