ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — DIPTERA. 



93 



The family Mus- 

 eidse is the largest 

 of the whole order, 

 including about 

 one third of all the 

 species of Diptera 

 known. The com- 

 mon house-fly be- 

 longs to this family . 

 Comstock sepa- 

 rates this family 

 into two divisions, 

 the Calyptrate Mus- 

 cidse and the Aca- 

 \y pirate Muscidse, 

 and under each of 

 these divisions 

 there are several 

 subfamilies. 



.FIG. 80. ' Formia regina. A, larva; B, pupariuiii; C. imago. 



The subfamily Taehininse is one of the most beneficial of the order 

 Diptera. The subfamily includes a number of species, several of which 

 are found in California. In their larval form they are parasitic, and 



FIG. 81. Red-tailed tachina fly (_Wiiitheiiiia U-pustalata), a parasite of the anny- 

 worm. a, fly, natural size; b, fly, enlarged; c, armyworm, natural size, 

 upon which eggs have been laid ; d, parasitized armyworms, enlarged. (After 

 Slingerland.) 



lay their eggs upon the larvffi of other insects, largely on caterpillars, 

 upon which the female fly lays her eggs. These eggs soon hatch out 

 small footless grubs, or maggots, which at once proceed to bore their way 



