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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the species just described, is yet likely to be met 

 with. Although not so handsome as the former, it 

 is more remarkable, its head being broader and 

 flatter, its abdomen more slender, and its wings very 

 prettily marked. The general colour of the insect 

 is black, but the face is bright yellow, and the eyes 

 reddish brown. The first and second segments of 

 the abdomen, which are reddish brown in colour, 

 are lengthened into a kind of footstalk. The re- 

 maining segments form, as it were, the head of a 

 club, of which the first two are the handle; their 

 colour is black, but the edge of each one has a fringe 

 of yellow hairs. The wings have brown patches on 

 them as shown in the figure, and the halteres are 

 yellow and rather conspicuous. 



Fig. 101. Foot of Myopa. testaceu, x SO diam. 



The mouth of C. quadrifasciata is showu at fig. 99. 

 It will be instructive to compare the drawing with 

 figs. 29 and 53, representing the mouths of Stomoxys 

 calcitrans and Tetanocera Hieracii. The most 

 striking peculiarity is its length and thinness. The 

 labrum [Ibr) is short, and the lingua {I) is longer than 

 the labrum. The maxillae appear to be intermediate 

 between those of the Syrphidse, which are very 

 long and of the Museidae, which are not found 

 externally at all, for in the Conops they just project 

 beyond the skin. It is doubtful, however, whether 

 any internal organ can be properly called a maxilla, 

 since the primary form of a maxilla, as is well 

 known, is an external limb. 



Zodion. — Flies of this genus are rare, and as we 

 have never. found any specimens we do not stop to 

 describe them. They may be known from Myopae 

 by the peculiarity of the mouth before mentioned, 

 and also by the prsebrachial vein joining the cubital 

 before entering the margin of the wing, just as in 

 the genus;Conops. 



Myopa. — This genus is the commonest of the 

 family, and as the student is likely to find any one 

 of the five species, we give a table, which will 

 render the identification an easy matter : — 



Body rust-coloured and! M.fern/ginea, 

 wings transparent ...J M.faseiata. 



Wings spotted M. testacea, M. luccata. 



Body all black M. atra. 



M. fasciata may be'distinguished from M, fernc- 

 ginea by its having a black abdomen ; and M. 

 testacea from M. buccata by its having the trans- 

 verse veins of the wings clouded with brown, which 

 in the other are plain. 



The first species named, M. ferruginea, is likest 

 to a Conops, but it may easily be distinguished 

 therefrom by the variations before mentioned. As 

 its name implies, its general colour is that of rust, 

 which indeed is the prevailing tint among Myopae. 

 In size and shape it is somewhat variable, being 

 sometimes more than half an inch long, although 

 generally less ; but on the thorax there are always 

 three longitudinal black stripes, which alone would 

 serve to specify it. Its face is yellow, and not so 

 protuberant as in the species next to be described. 

 Its wings are nearly transparent. One is drawn 

 at fig. 93, and its peculiarities have already been 

 noticed when comparing it with the wing of 

 Conops. 



The most ridiculous of all our flies is Myopa 

 testacea, which looks as if it were afflicted with 

 violent toothache and rheumatism, for its face is 

 swollen to a great size, and its abdomen and legs 

 have most unexpected curves and twists in them. 

 In colour it is rusty, but of a brighter tint than 

 the preceding fly, and it is spotted in various places 

 with a darker brown. The face is white, and the 

 mouth projects from its swollen cheeks like a 

 slender, jointed filament. An idea of the fly may 

 be obtained from fig. 97, but it is only in a living 

 specimen that its funniness can be appreciated ; for 

 its capricious movements contribute greatly to its 

 oddity. It is far more active than Myopa ferruginea, 

 which is so sluggish that it often allows itself to be 

 caught with the fingers. Nothing of the sort may 

 be expected from M. testacea, which will escape 

 from the net if care be not taken to secure it. It 

 varies greatly as to size, some specimens being only 

 inch long, while others reach the length of 



_s_ 



1 



1 

 i 



inch. 



The feet of both the genera Conops and Myopa 

 are much alike, so one description will serve for the 

 two. Eig.101 shows a foot of If. testacea sideways, 

 and just turned up enough to see the underside of 

 the pads. It is not uulike the foot of an Asilus, 

 for the pads arc both long and square, and have 

 large, perfectly straight tenent hairs. But there 

 are no auxiliary pads as in an Asilus, and the bristle 

 between the two hrge pads has no tenent hairs. 

 The claws are long, well developed, and sharp, but 

 the bristles on the tarsus are mostly slender. 



The next species, M. atra, is much smaller than 

 the other two, being not more thau £ inch long. It 

 bears a strong resemblance to Cordylura pubera, 

 drawn at page Gl of this year's Science-Gossip, a 

 fly which we stated was not very distantly related 

 to the Conopidce ; it is, however, different in the 

 mouth and wings. The specific name of this 



