J. R. Malloch.
Two New Oriental Phoridæ.
Psyche 22:27-31, 1915.

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19151 Malloch-Two New Oriental Phorids 27 race would probably persist even if the eggs were not concealed, but would certainly die out if the eggs were laid where sunlight could act upon them.
TWO NEW ORIENTAL PHORIDB.
BY J. R. MALLOCH,
Urbana, Illinois.
Aphiochseta parasitica, sp. nov.
Female: Yellow. Frons slightly darkened towards vertex; antennae, and pro- boscis yellow, palpi whitish-yellow. Pleura with a small dark spot below wing base. Dorsum of abdomen brown, each segment with a very narrow yellow posterior marginal line. Legs yellow, mid coxae with a black spot on their posterior surface; apices of hind femora and dorsal surface of hind tibia blackened. Wings clear, veins brownish. Halteres yellow. (This description is drawn from alcoholic specimens.
Fresh or dry mounted examples will probably be darker in color.) Frons slightly longer than broad, the surface with numerous short hairs; post- antenna1 bristles 4 in number, sub-equal in size; first row of bristles convex, the center pair but little below the outer pair and distinctly nearer to center of frons; antennae normal in size, third joint rounded; arista bare, about one-third longer than length of frons, palpi projecting beyond apex of antenna, not swollen, and with about 8 distinct black bristles; cheek bristled. Mesopleura hare; scuttellum with 4 bristles, the basal pair slightly the weaker. Abdomen almost bare, only a few very weak setula present, the segments sub-equal in length. Legs normal; fore tarsi slender; hind femora and tibiae dilated; the mid tibial setulse weak; hind femora with a few weak setulse on the basal half of the ventral surface; hind tibiae with 10-11 setulse extending in a series from basal third to apex, which at no part exceed in length one-half the tibial diameter. Costa to about three sevenths the wing length; fringe close, the hairs not exceeding in length twice the diameter of the costal vein, first costal division about 5 times the length of second; third slightly shorter than second; fourth vein gently arcuated, ending distinctly in front of wing tip, slightly recurved.
Male:
Similar to female in' coloration. Differs in having the frons rather nar- rower; the lower pair of post-antennals minute, and the upper rather close together; the antennae larger, the third joint over one-third as large as the eye; the abdomen tapering; the hypopygium slightly exposed, and the anal protuberance very small, with 2 weak apical hairs; the costa reaching to about two-fifths the wing length, the second and third divisions thereof sub-equal, and the fringe more widely spaced. Length: 1.75-3.5 mm.
Type: From Heliothis larva, Medan, Sumatra, May, 1912. Alhtype (Male) : Same data. Paratypes: Same data. Five specimens in all. Ps\che 22:27-11 (1915). hup //psyche einclub orgt2222-027.htnil



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28 Psyche [February
At least two species with the costa falling short of the wing mid- dle are recorded as parasitic on insects, viz., fasciata Fallen, and nedce Malloch. Both of these species were recorded as occurring on Coccinellidse and are not closely allied to parasitica. There are besides the records mentioned in this paper several others already published which serve to show that the parasitic habit is by no means rare in Phoridse though but few species have so far been reared under observation.
Aphiochaeta destructor sp. nov.
Male: Yellow. Antennae reddish-yellow; palpi pale yellow. Abdomen slightly brownish on dorsum; anal protuberance pale yellow. Legs yellow; mid coxse with a
distinct black spot on posterior surface; apices of hind femora broadly brown. Wings clear, veins yellowish.
Halteres yellow. (This description is drawn from alcoholic specimens.
The color in fresh or dry mounted examples will probably be slightly darker.)
Frons subquadrate; lower pair of post-antennals distinctly weaker than upper pair; center pair of bristles in first row distinctly lower on frons, and, vertically, about midway between them and the central suture; anntena slightly enlarged, third joint rounded; palpi large, but not swollen, protruding as far as the apex of antenna, about 8 short black setulse on the under surface of each. Mesopleura with numerous short hairs and a long, black, backwardly directed bristle on the upper posterior or ti on; scutellum with 4 sub-equal bristles. Abdomen tapering slightly; segments sub-equal; second segment with 2-3 short setulse on the lateral margins of dorsum; anal protuberance large and stout, its surface with several black hairs, and the apical pair distinct. Legs stout, the hind femora and tibiae dilated; mid tibia1 setulse weak, those on the hind tibia distinct, the longest one about equal in length to one-half the diameter of the tibia, 9-10 in number, and extending from base to apex. Costa reaching to slightly beyond middle of wing, fringe very close, the hairs slightly longer than diameter of costa; first costal division equal in length to second and third together; third about one-fifth as long as second; fourth vein .
gently arcuated, ending well before wing tip. Length: 1.75 mm.
Type and Paratype: From Noctuid pupa, Poerwakerto, Java, June, 1911. This species bears a close resemblance to scalaris Loew. in wing characters, but is otherwise readily distinguished especially by the bristling of the mesopleura which is bare in scalaris. The long backwardly directed bristle on the mesopleura is found in several previously described species. The European species ciliata Zetterstedt is perhaps the commonest and most widely distributed of this group, but is readily distinguished from any of the species that are known to be parasitic, or at least to feed upon



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19151 Britton-Macrosargus cuprarius Linn. 29 insects in any stage. The species juli Brues which has very simi- lar characters on the pleurae and is almost identical in coloration has been reared from myriapods. Perdita Malloch, which is very closely allied to juli has been reared from the larvae of a butterfly, Eurymus euiytheme. Besides these two, there are several others possessing the strong backwardly directed mesopleural bristle, but with the exception of ciliata Zetterstedt, which I have found on carrion and fungi, and halictorum Melander and Brues, which has been recorded from burrows of Halictus,l nothing is known of their habits. Some of the species in Phoridae are true parasites, but in some cases they may only attack wounded larvae, though it is very probable that like certain species in the Tineinae (Micro- lepidoptera), and other groups, they will feed readily upon Lepi- dopterous or other pupae.
The type specimens of the species were returned to the U. S. Bureau of Entomology, from which they were sent for identifi- cation.
THE PREVALENCE OF MACROSARGUS CUPARIUS
LINN., IN THE UNITED STATES.
Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn. On May 20, 1914, I received from a correspondent in Walling- ford, Conn., several specimens of an unfamiliar insect, with the fol- lowing accompanying note:-
Under separate cover, I am sending you some grubs I found on my strawberry plants. They were close to the crown of the plant at the base of the dry leaves. Will you please tell me what they are, what harm they do, and how to get rid of them?
The specimens in question might be taken for either larvae or pupse.
They were mouse-gray in color, about 10 mm. long, nearly 3 mm. broad, and less than 2 mm. thick. The anal extremity was thin and broadly rounded as seen from above: from it toward the head the sides were nearly parallel for about three-fourths of its length;, then it tapered to a narrow elongated head with a hemis- 1 Biological Bull. V, 1902, p. 14.




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80 pmohe IFebruMy
pherical projection on each side, the pn$ections resembling eyes. The segmentation was well-marked throughout. These curious specimens were placed in a breeding cage in the insectary, and on June 1, an adult two-winged fly emerged. An- Fig. 1. Macrosargus citprariua Linn.
Adult, larvae and puparium.
other appeared June 15, These were kindly identified by Mr. C. W. Johnson as Sfacrosa~gw cuyrarius Linn., a European apecies which has become rather abundant in this country, As the appearance aad habits of its immature stages are not well-known, at least, k this country, this note and the accompany- ing illustration, from a photograph by Mr. 3. H. Walden, may serve to call attention to it. Mr. H. B. Weiss has recently recorded (Ed. News, Vol. XXV, p. 395: 1914) this species as having been received in New Jersey on Azaleas, imported from Holland in 1913, but he does not state whether it came in the larval, pupal or adult stages.
In regard to the further distribution of this species Mr. Johnsoo writes as follows: . .
I first collected about fifty epedn&eu~ of thia species along Second Rive, &bum Belleville, near Newark, N. J., June 18-16,1893. The capture was recorded (ċ£wto mdogy New, Vol. 7, p. 84,1896) under the name of Sargnf 'ndeculmw Zett. whkh is merely a variation of cupurius. As thia specie had not 'been recorded from



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19151 . Britton-Macrosargus cuprarius Linn. 3 1 America and was not represented in any of the older collections, I was inclined to consider it a recent introduction, but this theory has been somewhat shaken since, collecting it in considerable numbers at Niagara Falls, N. Y., June 24-28, 1901, and receiving specimens the same year from Mr. G. Chagnon who collected them at Rigaud, Quebec, July 27. In 1903 I came to Boston and was surprised to find it quite- common in the vicinity (Blue Hill, May 30, and Auburndale, July 19- Aug. 13.). Since then I have collected it at the following localities:-Hyannis Port, July 4, 1904; Calais, Me., July 10, 1909; Middletown, Conn., June 17, 1909 and Bretton Woods, N. H., June 27,1913; near Newport, R. I., June 5, 1914. Recently I have received specimens from Brother Germain, taken at Ottawa, Canada.



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