142 
Psyche 
[September 
THE MATURE LARVA AND PUPARIUM OF 
PHYSOCEPHALA SAGITTARIA (SAY) 
(DIPTERA, CONOPIDJE) 1 
By Lee H. Townsend 
Illinois State Natural History Survey, Urbana 
The larvse of the Conopidse, so far as known, are para- 
sitic upon other insects, living* within the body and con- 
suming the non-vital parts. The larvse pupate here also, 
pass the winter in this stage and the adults emerge the 
following spring or summer. 
There are many more records of these parasitic flies in 
European than in American literature. Brauer (1883) 
listed the literature concerning the immature stages and 
biology. He also gives the family characters, as under- 
stood by him, for the larvse. According to de Meijere 
(1903), these characters, as given by Brauer, do not hold 
true for the larvse of the three known genera. Since 
Brauer mentioned the anterior spiracles, it seems he must 
have had a specimen of the conopid genus Sicus. This 
should be borne in mind when using his description. Wil- 
liston (1885) gives a translation of Brauer’s characters. 
In two papers de Meijere (1903, 1912) compiled all pub- 
lished information on the biology of the family and added 
much new material. These papers are indispensable to 
anyone studying the biology of the group. In his account 
of the family, Brunetti (1923) makes some general state- 
ments concerning the larvse and their life history. He 
adds nothing new. In 1926, Silvestri described a conopid 
larva from a specimen of Termes gilvus Hagen received 
from the Philippines. The species was not known. This 
larva was living in the head of the termite and is appar- 
ently the only case so recorded. 
Contributions from the Entomological Laboratories of the Univer- 
sity of Illinois, No. 173. 
