DIPTERA. 5 1 



"They wage war on other insects," says M. Macquart, in his 

 " Histoire Naturelle des Dipteres," " either when flying or running, 

 and they seize their victims with their feet, which are formed in 

 various ways, and well adapted for their purpose, but it is in the 

 air that their hunting, as well as their amours, chiefly take place. 

 They unite together in numerous companies, which during fine 

 summer evenings whirl like gnats about the water's edge. A singular 

 observation, however, that I have made on the Empis, is, that among 

 the thousands of pairs that I have seen resting on hedges and bushes, 

 nearly all the females were occupied in sucking an insect ; some had 

 hold of small Phryganaz* others of Ephemera ,t and the greater 

 part of Tipulce." 



The Empida have the trunk bent down, and resembling the beak 

 of a bird ; but the Bombylida, on the contrary, have the trunk 

 extended straight in front. 



The typical genus which has given its name to this latter group is 

 easily to be recognised by the elegance of the fur which covers its 

 body, the slenderness of its feet, and the length ot its wings, which 

 extend horizontally on each side of the body. 



Much more common in hot climates than in the North, these 

 insects, the larva? of which are not yet known, take flight in the 

 middle of the day, when the sun's rays are hottest They fly very 

 fast, making a dull buzzing sound, and hover over flowers, from which 

 they draw the juices without settling. 



Fig. 36 represents the Bombyliiis major, which is common enough 

 throughout the whole of Europe. This insect is from four to six 

 lines long, black, with yellow fur ; the feet light yellow ; and the wings 

 have the edges bordered with a sinuous brown band. 



The genus Anthrax, belonging to this family, has a different form 

 to Bombylius. The body is much less hairy; the trunk is short and 

 concealed in the mouth ; the wings, which are very large, are clothed, 

 at least in the principal genus, in a garb of mourning, sufficiently 

 remarkable, in which the combinations of black and white are 

 admirably diversified. 



" Here," says M. Macquart, " the line which separates the two 

 colours is straight ; there it represents gradations, in other cases it is 

 deeply sinuous. Sometimes the dark part shows transparent points, 

 or the glassy part dark spots. This sombre garb, added to the velvet 

 black of the body, gives the Anthrax a most elegant appearance ; 



* The insects produced from the caddis or case-worm. ED. 

 t May-fly family. ED. 



E 2 



