410 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



it, is figured in Griffith's translation of Cuvier's "Animal King- 

 dom," under the name of Myopa nigripennis. It is found on 

 fences around gardens in May and June. It sits with its wings 

 half spread, moves slowly, and flies heavily. My Sphccomyia 

 valida, though rather shorter than the preceding, has a thicker 

 body. Its color is brownish yellow, and it is striped with brown. 

 The wings are transparent, and are mottled with small, dusky 

 spots. 



Some of the Conopians (Cdnopidce) still more closely resem- 

 ble slender-bodied wasps than the preceding Sphex-flies. Conops 

 sagittaria, of Say, (nigricomis, Wiedemann) might almost be mis- 

 taken for a species of Eumenes. Its hind-body is very slender 

 and cylindrical next to the thorax, and swells out behind. Its an- 

 tennas are long, and thickened towards the end. Its proboscis is 

 very long and slender, elbowed at the base, and extends far be- 

 yond the head. This fly is of a black color ; the rings of the 

 hind-body are edged with white ; the face is yellow ; the legs are 

 brownish yellow, shaded with black on the thighs ; and the wings 

 are black, with two uncolored and wavy spaces on the inner mar- 

 gin. Its body is five eighths of an inch long, and its wings ex- 

 pand rather more than three quarters of an inch. This fly may 

 be found sucking the honey of flowers in June and July. The 

 Greeks gave the name of Conoj)s to some stinging fly or gnat. 

 The Conopians undergo their transformations in the bodies of 

 bumblebees, their young subsisting on the fat contained within the 

 abdomen of their luckless victims. 



A host of flies, forming nearly one third of the whole number 

 of species in the order Diptera, will be found to have a short 

 and soft proboscis, ending with large fleshy lips, enclosing only 

 two bristles, and capable of being drawn up within the cavity of 

 the mouth. Their antenna) are generally short, hang down over 

 the face, and end with a large oval joint, bearing a little bristle. 

 Their larvae, or young, are fleshy, whitish maggots, which never 

 cast their skins, but when the pupa-slate comes on, shorten, take 

 the oblong oval form of an egg, and become brown, dry, and 

 hard on the outside. This immense tribe includes the various 

 kinds of flesh-flies, blow-flies, house-flies, dung-flies, flower-flies, 

 fruit-flics, two-winged gall-flics, cheese-flics, and many others, 



