Stanley W. Bromley.
Asilids Feeding on Bumblebees in New England.
Psyche 43:14, 1936.

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14 Psyche [March
ASILIDS FEEDING ON BUMBLEBEES IN
NEW ENGLAND
In Dr. 0. E. Plath's excellent book on Bumblebees ("Bum- blebees and Their Ways", Macmillan Company, New York City, 1934) he records two instances (p. 62) of bumblebees captured by Robber flies. In both cases the large bumblebee- like Bombomimu (Dasyllis) grossa (Fabr.) was the captor. As I have collected a number of records of Robber flies prey- ing on bumblebees, it might be of interest to present a sum- mary of these records. Five different species of Asilids were observed to kill 'bumblebees in New England with a total of 76 bumblebees1 recorded as prey. The dates of cap- ture range from 1910 to 1922 and were confined to Southern New England, most of them from Massachusetts. ASILID BUMBLEBEE PREY RECORDS
PROCTACANTHUS PHILADELPHICUS Macq. 30
DIOGMITES (DEROMYIA) UMBRINUS LWW 29
PROCTACANTHUS RUFUS Williston 10
PROMACHUS FITCHII Osten Sacken 6
BOMBOMIMA (DASYLLIS) GROSSA (Fabr.) 1
On page 63, Dr. Plath states that he has never seen the near relative of B. grossa, B. thoracica (Fabr.) , attack bum- blebees, although he believes it probable that this species may do so. Thoracim is in general much more common in Southern New England than grossa, but I have never seen it feeding on bumblebees either, although I have on several occasions seen thoraciw strike bumblebees in flight and unsuccessfully grapple them, indicating that the spirit at least is willing.
^The bumblebees herein referred to as prey of Asilids in New Eng- land were all workers and males of the following species listed in or- der of frequency: Bombus vagans F. Sm., B. impatiens Cress., B, per- plexus Cress., B. affinis Cress., B. fe~.vidus (Fab.), B. te.rricola Kby., and B. bimauulat'us Cress. Some of these were recorded in my papers on Asilid Prey, Psyche XXI, No. 6, pp. 192-198 (1914) and Psyche XXX, NO. 2, pp. 41-45 (1923).
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