484 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



pierce through the toughest hide. It is stated that they will 

 not touch a horse whose back has been well washed with a 

 strong decoction of walnut leaves. The eyes of these flies are 

 very beautiful, and vary in their colors and markings in the 

 different species. 



The golden-eyed forest-flies are also distinguished for the 

 brilliancy of their spotted eyes, and for thek clouded or banded 

 wings. They are much smaller than the horse-flies, but re- 

 semble them in their habits. Some of them are entirely black 

 {Chrysops ferrvgatus, Fabricius), others are striped with black 

 and yellow {Chrysops vittatus, Wiedemann). They frequent 

 woods and thickets, in July and August. 



The bee-flies, or Bombylians (Bombyliad^), have a very 

 slender proboscis, sometimes exceeding the length of their 

 body. They are met with in sunny paths in the woods, in 

 April and May. They fly with great swiftness, stop suddenly 

 every little while, and, balancing themselves with their long, 

 horizontally spread wings, seem to hang suspended in the air. 

 They often hover, in this way, over the early flowers, sucking 

 out the honey thereof, like humming-birds, with their long bills. 

 Our largest bee-fly is the Bombylius csqualis, so named by Fa- 

 bricius, because the wings are divided lengthwise, in their 

 color, into two equal parts, the outer part being brownish 

 black, and the inner half colorless and transparent. The body 

 of this insect is short, rounded, and covered with yellowish 

 hairs, like a humble-bee. It measures three eighths of an inch 

 in length, and the wings expand rather more than seven eighths 

 of an inch. 



There are some flies that prey on other insects, catching 

 them on the wing or on plants, and sucking out their juices. 

 Some of them have thick and hairy bodies and legs, and bear 

 a striking resemblance to our biggest humble-bees. Such are 

 the Laphria thoracica, of Fabricius, which is black, with yellow 

 hairs on the top of the thorax, and measures eight or nine 

 tenths of an inch in length ; another species, which may be 

 called Laphria flavibarbis, differing from the former in having 

 the face and sides of the head covered with a yellow beard, 

 and in being an inch or more long ; and the Laphria tergissa, 



