78 



HOW TO COLLECT 



The larvse of Stratiomyidm have a hard, 

 armonrphite-like integument, and Hve in water 

 or in humus. 



STRATIOMYS BUKCATA. 



The larvae of the Horse-flies {Tahanidce) and Kobber-flies (/ls^7?<^ciR) 

 are whitL^h, soft-bodied grubs, which in the case of the Asilidai 

 are sometimes considerably elongated ; they are carnivorous, preying 

 upon beetle larvse, snails, worms, etc. The larvaj of 2\ihanid(e are 

 found in earth, water, or in debris at the margin of streams ; those 

 of the Asilidw in earth or in rotten wood. 



The larvae of the Humble-Bee-fiies (^Bomhylidce) are parasitic in 

 the nests of solitary bees, or in the egg-capsules of locusts and 

 grasshoppers. 



The habits of the larvse of the Syrphidm are exceedingly diversified ; 

 those of the true Hover-flies (Syrj)hus) may be found on leaves 

 infested with Aphidce, upon which they feed ; those of Volucella are 

 inquilines in the nests of humble-bees and wasps ; the well-known 

 " Rat-tailed Maggots" (such as the larva of the Common Drone-fly, 

 Eristalis tenax, L.) — so called from the protrusible, telescopic, 

 terminal segments of the body, which carry the breathing-tubes — 

 live in decaying animal or vegetable matter in a liquid or semi- 

 liquid state, in foul and stagnant water, drains, and similar places ; 

 the larvaj of other genera (e.g. Brachypalpus^ Xylota, Ccdliprobola) 

 live in rotten trees. The larvae of SyiyJiidcti in general (including 

 all the foregoing) are more or less soft and grub-like in appearance ; 

 but those belonging to the genus Microdo7i, which live in ants' nests, 

 have a hard, dorsally convex shell, without or with scarcely a trace 

 of segmentation, and are so aberrant in appearance as to have been 

 mistaken for molluscs. 



The larvse of Cojiopidce are parasitic in the bodies 

 of imagines of Hymenoptera (and Orthoptera*). 



* Pkysocephala vittata, F., was bred by Bohemau fiom 

 coNors FLAviPEs. a giasshopper Sphlngonotus eyanojjterus, Charp. 



