DIPTERA. — ANTHRACIDZ. 543 
series of strong reflexed hooklets ; the leg cases extend considerably 
beyond the wing-cases, and the case which encloses the long pro- 
boscis lies between the legs; the extremity of the body is also spined. 
M. Imhoff has also figured the pupa of this insect in the Js/s for 1834. 
The species of this family are for the most part exotic; many of 
them differ from the typical species in the much longer form of the 
body, and of the antenne and the shorter rostrum ; amongst these 
the more remarkable are Systropus Wied., which in its form re- 
sembles the Hymenopterous genus Ammophila and Lepidophora Westw. 
(in Phil. Mag. June, 1835), which has the remarkable aspect of 
fEgeria, with long scaly antenne and a tasselled tail. I have figured 
the typical species L. Aigeriiformis in Griff. An. Kingd. Ins. pl. 128. 
I possess this as well as another species, both being from Georgia in 
North America. 

The family ANTHRACID# (fig. 128.15. Anthrax Hottentotta), form- 
ing part of the Linnean genus Musca, differs from the preceding family 
to which it is nearly related, in having the thorax but slightly ele- 
vated ; the head is nearly spherical (fig. 128. 16.) ; the antennz are 
very short, and inserted at a distance from each other, and terminated 
by an elongate pear-shaped joint, being very attenuated at the tip 
(jig. 128. 18.); the proboscis is generally very short, and often with- 
drawn into the oral cavity; in a few instances, especially in the exotic 
genus Nemestrina, it is, however, very long ; the palpi are slender, 
filiform, and composed of a single joint (fig. 128.17. mouth of An- 
thrax after Curtis); the abdomen is squarer than in the Bombyliide, 
and the legs are long and slender, the tarsal pulvilli very small or 
obsolete. They are generally of moderate or large size, often co- 
vered with hair and beautifully coloured, the wings also being much 
maculated ; they are for the most part exotic, very few species being 
found in this country ; they fly in the sunshine with great agility, and 
the species which I have observed on the Continent appear to delight 
in alighting often on the ground and upon walls exposed to the sun. 
They subsist in the perfect state upon the juices of flowers. 
Macquart states that the larva are not known,-and Latreille says, 
“‘ Larva parasitica? Pupa nuda, incompleta, spinosulo-annulata.” (Ge- 
nera, Se. tom. iv. p. 307.) Réaumur (Mém. tom. vi. pl. 27. f. 13.) 
