; 3^ )^3L 



613. 

 BOMBYLIUS MAJOR. 



Order Diptera. Fam. Bombylidae. 



Type of the Genus, Bombylius major Linn. 

 BoMBYLius Linn., Fab., Lat., Meig., Mik., Curt. — Asilus Geof. 



Antennce porrected, inserted close together in front of the crown, 

 short, slender and 6-jointed, basal joint long stout and clothed 

 with very long hairs, as well as the 2nd, which is cup-shaped, 

 3rd very long, subfusiform, attenuated, the remainder slender, 

 4th minute, cup-shaped, 5th a little elongated, attenuated, 6th 

 minute ovate (3). 



Proboscis very long and porrected horizontally from the lower 

 part of the face (2). 



Labrum very long, spear-shaped, being somewhat lozenge- 

 shaped tow^ards the apex which is acuminated (1, b). 

 Tongue longer, broadest at the base, attenuated, being very 

 slender and acute at the apex (c). 



MaxillcB shorter than the labrum, setiform (e), curved at the 

 base where the Palpi are attached (/) ; they are short, curved, 

 clavate, and clothed with long hairs on the inside. 

 Lip as long as the tongue, rather stout and linear (g), termi- 

 nated by 2 elongated narrow recurved lobes united at the base 

 by a horny biacuminated plate, with a slender process in the 

 centre (*). 

 Kesid subtrigonate, the forehead narrowed and projecting: eyes lateral, 

 elongated, meeting behind in the male, remote in the female (2) : 

 ocelli 3, very minute and forming a compact triangle near the base 

 of the head. Thorax large, subglobose: scutellum. tra}isverse. Ab- 

 domen short, trigonate-conic and very doivny. Wings divaricating , 

 long and narrow, rounded at the apex, with 2 discoidal cells : hal- 

 teres capitate, concealed. Legs long and very slender : thighs, hinder 

 the longest : tibiae nearly of equal length: tarsi long, slender, attenu- 

 ated and 5 -jointed, first Z joints only spined beneath in the anterior 

 pair (8), basal joint very long, 4th a little shorter than the 5th: 

 claws curved, pulvilli bilobed long and slender. 



Major Linn. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 1194. 1. 



Black, entirely clothed with soft ochreous yellow hairs : wings 

 with the upper portion brown, forming internally an oblique 

 sinuated line extending nearly to the apex : legs pale ferru- 

 ginous, tarsi fuscous ; underside with the hairs yellowish-white, 

 the breast and a triangular space forming the apex of the abdo- 

 men, with a portion of the hairs on each side black. 



In the Author's and other Cabinets. 



On fine bright mornings in the early part of spring, the ento- 

 mologist is delighted at seeing the two larger varieties of these 

 beautiful flies hovering over sunny banks covered with prim- 



