347 



FAMILY BOMBYLIDiE. 



(Bee Flies.) 



(Plate 42, Figs. 4, 6 and 7 ) 



These flies resemble bees, both in appearance and 

 liabits. They are usually very hairy, and their wings 

 are often mottled with smoky patches. They usually 

 have rather a long proboscis, which is used to send 

 down to the nectar of flow^ers on which the flies live. 

 They fly very quickly for long distances, and some 

 of them move their wings so rapidly that they seem 

 to be quite still over the flower; they dart away 

 with a quick, jerky movement. We have observed 

 these flies on flowers of Leptospcrmum^ Angophora^ 

 and Eucalyptus, This was the large mottled wing 

 type. 



Comstock says: ''The larvae are parasitic, infest- 

 ing lepidopterous larvag and pupae and the egg sacs 

 of Orthoptera. " 



Froggatt records: ''The life history of our species 

 is little known, but I have bred several out of the 

 clay nests of wasps, and two out of lepidopterous 



pupa? (Agrostis). 



David Sharp describes how Fabre discovered the 

 habits of a bombylid fly (Argyromoeba) which laid 

 its eggs on the mud cells of a mason wasp. The 

 tiny maggot, after waiting some days, makes its 

 way into the cell by way of tiny cracks. Sharp thus 



