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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Schmfferi, Fig. 4, I, II), the middle of the antennae are characterized 

 by very strong and well-defined expansions, and are partly covered 

 with hair. The palpi are very long, and the tongue is provided with 

 two tufts of hair. These form together a large yellow crest on the 

 anterior portion of the head (Fig. 4, II). In midsummer this beetle 

 is occasionally to be met with on the flower of the milfoil and corn 

 marigold. If one of these beetles be caught and examined with a 

 lens, the crest is usually found to be covered with a multitude of little 

 yellow pollen-grains. 



Among the long-horned beetles the Lepturidce, are specially well 

 adapted for procuring food from flowers. The anterior part of the 



Fig. 4. Fig. 5 



Fig. 4. Crown Beetle (Cerocoma Scheefferi). I, beetle, natural size, n, head, ten times en- 

 larged. Fig. 5. Longicorn Beetles : L Pachyta octornaculata, three times enlarged. II. Lep- 

 tut a livida : a, head, natural size; b, labium. 



body (head and thorax) is narrow and elongated, so as to enable the 

 insect to push its way pretty deeply into the interior of the flower. 

 The mouth-parts are well developed, and stand straight forward from 

 the head. The labium is usually hairy, and is thus extremely useful 

 in extracting honey (Fig. 5, I, II).* 



Compared with the beetles, Diptera or flies take a very prominent 

 position as promoters of cross-fertilization. One great advantage which 

 they have over the former class is their power of free and rapid mo- 

 tion. While the beetles are almost without exception compelled to 

 adopt a slow mode of locomotion, the movements of the flies are among 

 the most rapid known in the insect world. The number of native spe- 

 cies of Diptera is very large ; of those which frequent flowers we shall 

 here consider but a few (Figs. 6-10). One of the largest and most 

 rapid flying of the Diptera is the humble-bee fly (Bombylius major, 

 Fig. 6). In this species the proboscis, which is situated on the ante- 

 rior portion of the head, is of considerable length, so that the in- 

 sect can reach the honey even when it is secreted some way down the 



* The rest of the Lepturidce live for the most part in or on wood. In contrast to the 

 species just described, the thorax is broad, the mouth situated toward the under side of 

 the head, and the maxillue either very slightly hairy or totally destitute of hairs. 



