“Udschimya sericaria,” Rond., a Fly Parasitic on the Silkworm

Abstract

I HAVE been engaged during the past year in tracing the life-history of Udschimya sericaria, Rond., and have succeeded in making it out completely. I send you a short account of it, hoping that it may not be entirely uninteresting to your readers. As you are no doubt aware, in Japan and China the maggot of this fly does great damage every year to the larvæ and pupæ of the silkworm, sometimes 80 per cent. of the caterpillars and pupæ being killed. The knowledge of its life-history would therefore be of great economic interest as furnishing the scientific basis for guarding against this parasite. Strange as it may seem, no one has, however, until recently, made any systematic observations on the matter.