424 Syrphidae. 



Female. Vertex and frons broad, yellowish pruinose, the space 

 with the ocelli and above the antennæ black; the hairs mixed black 

 and yellow, especially black at the ocelU and above the antennæ. 

 Abdomen generally with more restricted markings than in the male. 



Length 13,5—16 mm. 



E. tenax is very common in Denmark and occurs in all parts of 

 the country. It occurs on nearly all localities especially near water 

 and around putrid waters, and it is also often seen on various flowers, 

 especially Umbelliferæ. My dates are ^^/.s — ^^/lo, but it may occur both 

 earlier and later, it is, however, most common in autumn. I have 

 bred it from pupæ found at horse-dung in a stable on ^^/g, the 

 imagines came on -^/o — ^"^h. The metamorphosis is often mentioned 

 and was known already to Linné, Swammerdam and earlier authors, 

 and has often been mentioned since. The larva lives in putrid waters, 

 dung, cloacæ and the like and has also been found in carcasses, 

 especially in such lying on humid ground. It is known to be very 

 tenacious and for this reason Linné termed the species tenax. Several 

 earlier authors state that the larva has occassionally been taken up 

 with water used in paper-making, or that it has lived in the pulp of 

 rags used in this fabrication and has been uninjured by the immense 

 pressure ; as far as I have seen these statements are taken from Linné, 

 who seems to have had this curious experience about the larva, as 

 he says in Fauna Suecica: "Habitat in aquis stagnantibus, cloacis, 

 Bibliopegorum papo, vix preli pressione destruenda larva". The fly 

 is very much like a hive-bee, and this together with the faet that 

 its larva may live in carcasses has given rise to the superstition of 

 the ancients of the Bugonia or oxen-born bees, as it was thought 

 that bees might originate from carcasses of oxen or other animals. 

 This has been mentioned by many ancient authors, and curious 

 methods are given for the best ways in which to produce bees from 

 carcasses; Osten Sacken has thoroughly treated the question in several 

 papers (Ent. Month. Mag. 1886, 97; Bull. de la Soc. Ent. Ital. 1893, 186; 

 Smithson. Rep. for 1893, 1894, 487; On the oxen-born bees of the 

 Ancients (Bugonia), Heidelberg 1894 and Additional notes in explanat. 

 of the Bugonia-lore -of the Ancients, Heidelberg 1895) and has proved 

 that the Bugonia-myth is due to E. tenax, and at the same time that 

 the bees of Samson from the carcass of the lion were no doubt like- 

 wise E. tenax. 



Geographical distribution : — Distributed all over the world ; Osten 

 Sacken has given the story of its spreading out from its original 

 localities (Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1894, 489; Ent. Month. Mag. XXIII, 

 1886, 97; Smithson. Rep. for 1893, 1894, 498; Proc. Davenport. Acad. 



