MUSCID.E. 407 



dies. The change to the pupa state is usually effected on the 

 lower surface of a piece of rock in some damp locality. The 

 perfect insect emerges in thirty-two days. (Gimther's Zoologi- 

 cal Record, 1864.) 



MUSCID.E Latreille. The common House-fly, the Blue-bottle 

 fly, and the Flesh-fly, at once recall the appearance of this 

 family, which is one of great extent, and much subdivided by 

 entomologists. The antennae are three-jointed, the terminal 

 joint being flattened and with a plumose bristle in the typical 

 species. The proboscis ends in a fleshy lobe, with porrect 

 single-jointed maxillary palpi. The four longitudinal veins of 

 the wing are simple ; the first of the two veins on the hinder 

 edge often approaching that on the apex of the wing ; the tarsi 

 have two pulvilli, and the abdomen is five-jointed. The larvae 

 are footless, cylindrico-conic, narrowing in front, with a head 

 variable in form, and with hook-like mandibles. There are often 

 two pairs of spiracles, one on the terminal ring of the body, 

 and the other pair on the prothoracic segment. The pupa is 

 enclosed in the puparium, generally cylindrical, but sometimes 

 preserving the original shape of the larva. The celebrated 

 "Tsetze" fly (Glossiua morsitans Westwood) is a member of 

 this family. It kills cattle by its painful bite, though its in- 

 jurious nature is said to have been overrated. It is allied to 

 Stomoxys, the species of which bite very sharply. 8. caltricans 

 has a well developed proboscis, enabling it to bite severely. 

 It is often found in houses. 



The species of the genus Tachina, like the Ichneumonidae, are 

 parasitic in caterpillars, and others are found in the nests of 

 bees. They are stout flies, covered with bristles, with the eyes 

 much larger in the males than in the other sex. The bristle 

 of the antennai is bare or with a very short pubescence. The 

 thorax is short, and the first posterior cell is closed, or but 

 slightly opened, and the legs are short. The abdomen is oval 

 or cylindrical, and the first segment is much shortened. The 

 larvae are oval, with the segments much constricted ; they have 

 no head ; the last segment bears two spiracles. T. (Senomet- 

 opia) militaris Walsh lays its eggs, from one to six in num- 

 ber, on the Army worm (Leucania uuipuucta), "fastening 



