264 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
The grub was first noticed last April 20, in the egg deposits near Loyalton. This 
fall, September 7, it was detected in great quantity near Sierraville, and afterwards 
in several infested spots of the valley. A handful of such soil will generally display 
ten to twenty cases of locust eggs, more or less emptied, and half as many of the fine, 
fat, grubs. — [J. G. Lemmon, in tho Sacramento, Cal., Weekly Record- Union, Novem- 
ber 29, 1879. 
Tho white grubs ate out and destroyed thousands of eggs last fall, but, to all appear- 
ance, have eaten nothing since, having lain dormant all winter, and being now found 
still among the eggs, which are fast hatching out. — [W. C. Lemmon, Sierra Valley, 
Cal., June 13, 1880. 
I send to you by this mail another packago of tho locust-egg-eatiug grubs, some of 
which you will find more developed. My brother, Prof. J. G. Lemmou, came up from 
Oakland day before yesterday to spend a few days, and while looking at the grubs 
that I had gathered for you yesterday, one of them developed into the humble-bco 
fly which you have bred, and a half dozen specimens of which I have caught and 
envelop rolled up in paper. — [YV. O, Lemmon, in letter to C. V. Riley, dated, Sierra 
Valley, Cal., July 18, 1830. 
Happening home on a hurried visit, I find locusts and destruction all around — a 
6ad, sad sight ! Find my brother has tried to keep you posted up with specimens and 
notes. Am pleased to see a solution of the " big white grub " question. He developed 
into a species of fly, hosts of which are now seen in midday, buzzing about among 
the locusts.— [Prof. J. G. Lemmon, in letter to C. V. Riley, dated, Sierra Valley, Cal., 
July 18, 1880. 
This habit in the larvae of Bonibyliids of preying on locust eggs has 
not before been suspected, and in this connection we will review what 
has hitherto been known of their habits. 
Prof. J. O. Westwood has given, in the Transactions of the Entomo- 
logical Society of Loudon, 187G, pp. 497, 498, the following summary of 
observations upon the larval habits of Bombilii : 
Thanks to the researches of previous observers, the economy and transformations of 
the Bonibylii are now satisfactorily known to entomologists. Latreille rightly consid- 
ered that tho Bombylii, like Anthrax, were parasites, contrary to the opinion of Zetter- 
stedt that the larva feed on the roots of plants (Ins. Lapp., p. 510). The pupa of Bom. 
major was first figured by M. Imhoff in the Isis for 1834, having been found by him in a 
situation which he had previously noticed to be frequented by Andrena humilis (vol. 
1834, p. 536, pi. xii). Li my Introduction (vol. 2, p. 538, 1840) I published a figure of 
the same pnpa from a specimen discovered by M. C. Pickering in a sandy gravel-pit at 
Coombe Wood on the 28th of March, from which the imago was produced in a few days. 
The pupa is very similar to those of the species of Anthrax, which are known to bo 
parasites, having the front and under side of the head armed with strong spines, and 
the dorsal segments of the abdomen furnished with transverse rows of strong reflexed 
booklets. In 1852 M. H. Lucas published the description of a new Algerine species of 
the genus, Bomb. Boghariensis, in the Annals of the French Entomological Society, 2nd 
ser., vol. x, p. 11, pi. 1, No. 11, which he had reared from a pupa found under a stone 
in a damp, sandy situation, and, contrary to the opinion of Latreille, he expressed 
himself thus : " Je suis ported a croire que les larves qui composent ce genre ne sont 
pas parasites, comme le supposent Latreille et beaucoup d'autres Entomologistes, mais 
qu'elles vivent au contraire isolement dans la terre, — opinion, au reste, qui avait deja 
6t6 emise, mais avec doute, par M. Macquart, et que mon observation vient confirmer." 
Iu 1858 the real history of the Bombylius was discovered by the veteran Leon Du- 
four, who in the spring found various exuviae of the pupa of B. major sticking out of 
the ground, together with the newly-hatched insect, in places much frequented by 
various Andrcnidce, especially in the autumn, by digging on the spot, to find the larva, 
