1880. 
161 
look for in diurnal insects. D. pandurus in Yokohama comes freely 
to sugar, and is well-known to Lepidopterists there, as a nocturnal 
species, but of D. rugipennis 1 have live examples taken at sap at five 
o clock in the afternoon, and I have more than once taken it crossing 
my path while the sun was well over the horizon. 
In a wingless genus, such as the present, it is likely that some of 
the larger islands may possess species peculiarly their own, and per- 
haps D. Fortunei is one of these ; but in this case I should not look 
for any abnormal variety, but a species closely allied to that of the 
adjacent land. There is no record at present, I believe, of two species 
inhabiting the same district. 
I add a brief description of the new species above referred to : — 
Dam ASTER YIR [D IPENNTS, ,S p. H. 
D. Fortunei proxime affinis , cnpite thornceque Jcete p urp ureo-cupreis, 
elgtris rugoso-punctatis . sub-viridibus. 
Hab. : North Nipon. Long, corp ., 16 — 18 lin. 
Of the same facies as D. pandurus and Fortunei, the head and thorax are of a 
rich coppery-red, the latter, with transverse striae, has a very distinct smooth medial 
line. The elytra are in colour an obscure green on the disc, gradually brightening 
towards the base, the margins being quite metallic. The sculpture and punctuation 
of the wing-cases are after the pattern of F>. rugipennis, but the punctures are not 
quite so deep, and the longitudinal striae are always more or less visible. The colour 
of the head and thorax is slightly communicated to the under surface of the whole 
body. The $ , like D. Fortunei and rugipennis , has the tarsi perceptibly dilated. 
Awomori, Japan : 
September Gth, 1880. 
Habits of Bombylius . — The following notice is an important addition to the 
little we know on the habits of Bombylius. It is extracted from an article entitled : 
“ The locust scourge,” by J. Gf. Lemmon, contained in the San Francisco Weekly 
Bulletin, of September 15th, 1880. 
“Another enemy (of the grasshopper) which has proved very destructive in 
Sierra Valley is the larva of an insect whose full grown form was unknown until this 
spring. It seeks out a nest, of eggs, eats the contents of the whole nest (24 to 32 
eggs) one by one, pushes the shells aside, while his own body, big and fat with the 
feast, fills the whole case, in which condition he curls up and enters upon his long 
winter nap. This dormant stage lasts till spring, during which time the grub is 
about half-an-inch long and one-fiftli thick, being largest in the middle, and tapering 
slightly towards its head and tail. In this slate several specimens, at different 
times, have been sent to Pi’of. Riley in Washington, but he failed to perfect them in 
his vivarium. However, the question has been solved this spring in Sierra Valley. 
Some earth, with an ascertained number of this larva therein, was carefully watched 
under glass. In July, a beautiful little velvet-bodied fly, a species of Bombylius, 
appeared, having a long black beak, with which it sucks nectar from flowers, &c.” — 
C. R. Osten-Sacken, Florence : November 1 6th, 1880. 
