INSECTA — LEPIDOPTERA. 
249 
CECiDOMYZiDiE. — Professor Henslow has drawn attention to a doubt- 
ful point in the natural history of the Cecidomyia tritici, viz., — Whether 
the larva undergoes metamorphosis in the ground, or if it remains in the 
ears of corn. He was not able to rear one individual of the numerous 
larvae which he procured from the sifting of the chaff. (Report of the 
Eleventh Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science, held at Plymouth in July, 1841. London, 1842, p. 72.) 
Edw. Herrick (Sillim. Amer. Journ. of Science, xli. p. 153) has made 
some cursory observations on the Hessian Fly {Cecidomyia destructor), 
and its parasites. The author is of opinion that the insect was, in fact, 
introduced from Europe ; and produces much evidence that it is found 
native there. Its parasites are small Hymenoptera ; viz., — 1st, A still 
undescribed Platygaster : 2d, Ceraphron destructor, Say, which the 
author thinks is a Eurytoma ; apterous individuals are found, which are 
perhaps female : 3d, An undescribed species of Chalcididce, also having 
apterous females : 4th, An undescribed Oxyure. The first species lives 
in the eggs, the others in the nympha. 
Tipularidej3. — Zeller (Isis, p. 808) has given an exact description of 
the larva of the Limnobia distinctissima. It was found in May on the 
under side of the leaves of the Anemone nemorosa, in which it eats 
oblong holes. 
Stager (Kroyer Naturch. Tidsskr. iv. p. 202) discovered the larva of 
Dixa nigra in a pond. It is brownish-grey, 2'" long, cylindrical ; the 
middle thoracic ring broader than the rest ; and a pencil of fine bristles 
projecting over the head, at the anterior projection (vorderecke) ; the 
last ring not longer and narrower than the rest, ending in two finely 
fringed lobes, between which is found a three jointed process, covered at 
the point with bristles ; the lobes of the tail serve as suckers ; the fourth 
and fifth rings of the abdomen have each a couple of sucking pads on the 
under side ; the larva moves by means of this sucking apparatus and of 
the mouth. The nympha is reddish-brown, which state lasts four or 
five days. 
A new genus, Pterelachisus, has been characterized by Rondani (Guer. 
Rev. Zool. p. 243 ; Mag. de Zool. 1842, Ins. pi. 106) : Antennae thirteen- 
jointed, the joints from the third reniform (judging from the plate), the 
last small and spherical ; palpi as in Tipula ; the wings reduced to small 
stumps ; legs not very long. The male is unknown. Pt. Berteii is found 
in autumn on the Parmasian Hills, in the walls of old buildings. 
The reporter has described a new species from Van Diemen’s Land, 
Megistocera pacifica (Arch. 1842, i. p, 270). 
HiRTEiDiE. — A new genus, Asthenia, has been characterized by West- 
wood (Guer. Mag. de Zool. 1842, Ins. pi. 94). He places it near Ma- 
cropeza, Sphceromias and Hydrohcenus ; but the large eyes, which are 
close together above, point out a near alliance to Simulium, from which 
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