148 Dwellers of the Sea and Shore 



It is a simple semitransparent lethargic tube of liquid 

 contents, and to see it thus is to witness a strange con- 

 trast to the splendid, tawny, emerald-eyed creature 

 which it later becomes. 



Look, there goes Eristalis, pursued by the robber fly 



ROBBER FLY ATTACKING ITS PREY. 



(Erax riifibarbus) . Whatever advantages the first- 

 named fly may have derived from its beelike disguise, 

 the imposture surely does not stand it in good stead 

 now; for the bloodthirsty assailant will as readily at- 

 tack a genuine sting bearer as one v/hich obviously is 

 not. Other winged assassins pass. To flies, wasps, 

 and beetles, there would seem no end. 



