400 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



short and soft proboscis, ending with large fleshy lips, enclosing 

 only two bristles, and capable of being drawn up within the 

 cavity of the mouth. Their antennse are generally short, hang 

 down over the face, and end with a large oval joint, bearing a 

 little bristle. Their larvae, or young, are fleshy, whitish mag- 

 gots, which never cast their skins, but Avhen the pupa-state 

 comes on, shorten, take the oblong oval form of an egg, and 

 become brown, dry, and hard on the outside. This immense 

 tribe includes the various kinds of flesh-flies, blow-flies, house- 

 flies, dung-flies, flower-flies, fruit-flies, two-winged gall-flies, 

 cheese-flies, and many others, for which we have no common 

 names, but all composing the ti'ibe of Muscans, or Muscad^. 

 Some of these flies do not strictly conform to the foregoing 

 characters of the tribe, in all respects; but the exceptions are 

 few in number, and the most remarkable of them will be no- 

 ticed in the following pages. 



Many flies of this tribe are parasitic in their larva state, their 

 young living and undergoing their transformations within the 

 bodies of other insects, particularly in caterpillars, which they 

 thereby destroy. These flies belong chiefly to the family of 

 Tachinad.e, a name applied to them on account of the swift- 

 ness of their flight. In form they somewhat resemble house- 

 flies; like them they have very large winglets, and their Avings 

 spread apart when they are at rest. They are easily distin- 

 guished, however, by the stiff hairs wherewith they are more 

 or less covered, and by the bristles on their antennae, which 

 are not usually feathered. A large fly of this kind, the Ta- 

 china vivida of my " Catalogue," is often seen on fences, and 

 on plants, and sometimes in houses, towards the end of June 

 and during the month of July. Its large, oval hind body is of 

 a clear and light red color, with two or three black spots, in a 

 row, on the top of it, and a thick row of black bristles across 

 each ring. The face is grayish white, like satin, and the eyes 

 are copper-colored. The thorax is gray, with brownish lines 

 upon it. The antennae, proboscis, and legs are light red. Its 

 body is short and thick, and is about half an inch long, and 

 its wings expand rather more than nine tenths of an inch. 



Most insects are hatched from eggs which are laid by the 



