HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-G OSSSIP. 



81 



Bombylius laying her eggs in the nests of Bomb us 

 terrestris and other species ; but very little is known 

 of their life-history, further observations being 

 needed ; and we should be glad to hear if any one 

 could throw'further light on the subject. 



The following are the chief characteristics of two 

 of the four species. 



Fig. 51. Tip of labium, x 35; t, opening tendons; t", 

 closing tendons ; /, fulcrum ; tr, tracheae ; It, lancet, 

 removed and drawn separately. The lettering is the same in 

 all the figures of the tongue. 



Bombylius major.— -Length, in parts of an inch> 

 A to M ; breadth l^V The body is black, clothed 

 with tawny and black hairs above, and white 

 and black beneath. The brown patches on the 

 wing, shown in fig. 3, are constant in shape ; and 

 by the wings alone a specimen can be identified, 

 which is fortunate, for it is otherwise a very variable 

 species, both in size and colour. It is generally 

 distributed, and tolerably common. 



B.medius. — We have endeavoured to represent this 

 species by fig. -±6, in order that the reader may get a 

 general idea of what a humble-bee fly is. Although 

 called " medius," it is a larger insect than the former, 



and much like it; but it may readily be distinguished 

 by the wings, which, instead of patches, have fourteen 

 brown spots, mostly situate at the junction of the 

 veins. Its length is about ^ of an inch, exclusive 

 of hairs and antennae, which add & more. Breadth 

 from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other 1^ 

 inch, and the length of its tongue, when fully 

 extended as in fig. 50, is about £f, being the longest 

 dipterous tongue we know. As shown in fig. 46, 

 the fly has a white line down the middle of the 

 abdomen. 



There are two other species, both rare, which we 

 have never been fortunate enough to catch. There 

 is no danger of confounding them with either of 

 the species above described, for, besides being much 

 smaller inseets, the wings of both are without either 

 patches or spots, and their tongues are shorter 

 than their bodies. 



Plies intended for pinning out— i.e. for the cabi- 

 net—should be killed with a cyanide-bottle, or in 

 any other way which does not injure their appear- 

 ance ; those which are wanted for the microscope 

 may be killed by immersion in methylated spirit, in 

 which they may be kept any length of time without 

 injury to their chitonous portions; but if it be 

 required to make dissections of their "interior 

 arrangements," it is better to use the former method. 



In naming the species, we have followed the 

 arrangement of Walker in his "Insecta Britannica" ; 

 but some authors reverse the names of B. major and 

 B. medius, which, considering the comparative sizes 

 of the two flies, seems a sensible method; but then, 

 you know, Walker is " the authority." 



Erank J. Allen and H. M. J. Underbill. 



THE SONGS OF BIRDS. 



DURING the spring and summer of the past 

 year, our out-door studies in zoology were 

 confined to certain features of bird-life more parti- 

 cularly ; and prominent among these various phases 

 of birds' existence, was that of singing, and its 

 relation to the other utterances of birds ; for before 

 the close of the summer, we became fully convinced 

 that a bird's song bore just such relationship to its 

 various chirps, twitters, and calls, that singing with 

 mankind bears to his ordinary conversation. 



Early in the morning of a bright May day, pass- 

 ing, on our look-out for birds, along some woody 

 hill-side, glistening with dew, and glorious in floral 

 decoration, we are stopped by a loud chirp ! In an 

 instant a hundred melodious voices are hushed, and 

 not until we have remained quiet several moments, is 

 the concert resumed ; then, the bird that gave the 

 alarm -cry seeks some more elevated perch, and, 

 with head erect, our wood-thrush, again takes up 

 those wondrous strains of melody, beyond the power 

 of our language to describe. Another and another 



