"On the 24th of April I examined the larvae in the ground; the only change was a semi-transparent appearance which allowed of a movable black spot to be seen in the body. On the 8th June about fifty per cent. of the larvae had cast a skin and assumed the pupal state in their little cells: the color yellowish-brown, darkening to gray in the more advanced insect. About one per cent. of the cells, in which were two skins and an aperture to the surface, showed the perfect insect to have already come out of them. A gray pupa I was holding in my hand suddenly burst its envelope, and in halt a minute on its legs stood a fly, thus identifying the perfect insect.... I found the fly, now identified, sucking the nectar of flowers, especially of the pink scabious and thistle, plants common in the Troad. (Later on I counted as many as sixteen flies on a thistle-head.) The number of flies rapidly increased daily until the 13th, when the ground appeared pitted all over with small holes from whence the parasite had issued. A few pupae were then still to be found--a larva the rare exception. The pupal state thus seems to be of short duration. It was very interesting to watch the flies appearing above ground; first the head was pushed out; then, with repeated efforts, the body followed; the whole operation was over in two or three minutes; the wings were expanded, but the colors did not brighten until some time after. Occasionally a pupa could not cast off its envelope, and came wriggling out of the ground, when it was immediately captured by ants. Unfortunate flies that could not detach the covering membrane adhering to the abdomen, also fell a prey, as indeed many of the flies that could not get on their legs in time. The flies for the first time 13th June, were seen to pair, but this rarely."
SPARROWS IN THE UNITED STATES.--EFFECT OF ACCLIMATION, ETC.
The house sparrows were first brought to New York city in 1862. They might have been introduced in consideration of the scientific usefulness of the experiment; but the importation was made solely in view of the benefit to result from their immense consumption of larvae.
I have long observed peculiarities in their acclimation which are hardly known at all, and which must have a scientific importance. The subject might also be worthy of general interest, so numerous and familiar have the sparrows become all over our country.
Walking on Fifth avenue, or in the parks of the city, during the breeding season, one's attention is repeatedly attracted by the pitiful shrill call of a sparrow fallen on the pavement upon its first attempt at flight, or by the stronger note of a mother sparrow, sharply bewailing the fate of a little one, killed by the fall, or dispatched alive by the cat.
Should we take and examine these little weaklings, we should find generally that they are at a period when they normally should have the strength for flight, and we should also find that they are almost always of a lightish tint, some with head white, others with streaks and spots of white on the tail or back, and occasionally one is found entirely white, with red eyes--a complete albino. It is an accepted fact that the city-sparrow is everywhere of a lighter color than that of the country. But here the greater lightness exists in so many cases, to such a degree, and particularly in female sparrows, that it should be discussed, at least in part, under the head of albinism.
That so many which lack the muscular strength in their wings should be so generally affected with albinism, is a significant fact to those interested in this phenomenon.
Many hold, with Darwin, that this extraordinary want of coloring matter, occasionally met with in all animals, is not to be regarded as an index denoting an unhealthful condition of the animal. That it is so often united in the young sparrow with physical inability, argues favorably for those who bold a different view.