542 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
The family Bompyiup#*, corresponding with the genus Bombylius 
Linn. (fig. 128. 11. Bombylius major), has the body short and thick ; 
the wings extended horizontally on each side of the body ; the alula 
small; the proboscis long, and porrected in front of the head ; the la- 
brum is spear-shaped, the lingua as long, but more slender, the 
maxille exceedingly delicate (fig. 128. 12. mouth of Bombhylius after 
Curtis); the palpi are composed of a single joint; the antenne are 
closely approximated at the base, often with a short terminal style 
(fig. 128. 18. ant. of Bombylius) ; and the thorax is much elevated, so 
that the head appears to be inserted very low ; the antenne have the 
third joint oval or fusiform and flattened, terminated by a short style, 
but without any seta, and the legs very long and slender; the wings 
are generally apart when at rest, and they have mostly four posterior 
cells; the body is often thickly clothed with hairs; the ocelli are 
three innumber. These insects fly with astonishing rapidity, hovering 
at times over flowers without settling, and extracting the nectar by 
means of their long proboscis, making at the same time a considerable 
humming with their wings. (White, Sedborne, vol. ii. p. 233.; Bree, in 
Mag. Nat. Hist. No. 31.) Latreille supposes that their larvae, as 
well as those of the Anthracide, are parasites +, whilst Macquart cen- 
jectures they live in the ground (Hist. Nat. Dipt. tom.i. p. 376.), and 
Zetterstedt states that they feed on the roots of plants (dns. Lapp. 
p- 510.). 
I am indebted to Mr. Pickering for an opportunity of delineating 
the pupa (jig. 128. 14.) of Bombylius major, which that gentleman 
discovered in sandy gravel pits at Coombe Wood, on the 28th of March, 
and from which the imago was produced in a few days. This pupa 
has the back much arched, the front and under side of the head armed 
with strong spines; the abdominal segments furnished at the sides 
with numerous long curved setz, as well as dorsally with transverse 
* Bistiocr. Rerer. To THE BoMBYLIIDE. 
Mikan. Monogr. Bombyliorum Bohemia, 8vo. Prag. 1796. 
Modeer, in Physiol. Salsk. Handl. vol. i. (Deser. g. Bombylius. ) 
Duncan, in Mag. Zool. and Botany, vol. ii. (Brit. species. ) 

+ Macleay (Annals of Nat. Hist. Sept. 1838) states that the larve of those 
tropical Bombylii which have such a bee-like form live on the larvye of the bees 
they so strikingly represent. 
