34 
Psyche 
[February 
Mt. Desert, Me., August 7 and 9, and four males and one female 
on Nantucket Island, Mass., Sept. 8, Mr. Howard J. Shannon 
reports finding eight in his attic at Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y., 
Oct. 22, 27 and 30. The two sent me were females. These 
figures show that in the late summer and early fall the males 
predominate, the females in October seeking buildings in which 
to hibernate. I am quite sure that this species covers a much 
greater area than has been recorded, but owing to its resem- 
blance to other common muscids it has been overlooked. Mr. 
H. C. Curran has recently published (Can. Ent., vol. 58, p. 235) 
an account of the distribution of this fly in Canada. 
The first record for the Narcissus fly ( Merodon 
equestris): in America: There is apparently no doubt that this 
fly has been present in the immediate vicinity of Boston, Mass., 
for more than fifty years. The first record is that given by 
Packard. 1 who says: — “Mr. Sanborn has also reared from the 
pupa state M. narcissi which probably lives in the soil about 
decaying bulbs. It has been introduced from Europe according 
to Mr. Sanborn by the importers of Dutch bulbs.” The fly was 
reared a year if not more before the publication of the work, 1869. 
Mr. F. G. Sanborn worked on the collection of insects at the 
Boston Society of Natural History at that time. 
Osten Sacken in his Catalogue of Diptera 1878 says: “No 
American species are as yet recorded. The European Merodon 
narcissi has been occasionally introduced to the United States in 
dutch bulbs and the fly reared from them by Mr. F. G. Sanborn.” 
Evidently at that time Osten Sacken had no record of the species 
having been taken afield and to this day the species is only found 
in close proximity to gardens which offer a suitable habitat. 
The most interesting account of the Narcissis fly and its 
appearance in the vicinity of Boston is that by Professor J. G. 
Jack, 2 from which I quote the following: “In the Agassiz Museum 
Cambridge, Mass., there are larvae of this pest and damaged 
bulbs of Narcissus which were received from a garden in Brook- 
line, Mass, in 1879. During the past year or two this same es- 
^uide to the Study of Insects, p. 399, 1869. 
2 An enemy of Narcissus and Amaryllis, Garden and Forest, vol. X, p. 
154-156, with figs. Apr. 1897. 
