.356 INSECTS. 



varied in colouring. Some are golden green, with lines 

 and spots of purple, others are bronzed, others purplish 

 green, others green-striped or banded with crimson. 



The feet have three pads. 



The larvae are terrestrial. 



Acroceridse, the fourth family, contains a few species 

 of small but remarkably swollen-looking Flies, with 

 nearly globular abdomen, broad, very high, and convex 

 thorax, and exceedingly small head, which seems only 

 just large enough to contain the eyes. The antennae are 

 small, and placed close together ; the feet, like those of 

 the Tabani, have three pads. 



These insects are sluggish, and haunt flowers. 



Asilus, the principal genus in the family Asilidae, con- 

 tains some long, strong, hairy, hungry-looking Flies of 

 predaceous habits. They feed principally on other 

 insects, and an Asilus may often be seen on the wing 

 bearing the whole weight of an unlucky Bee probably 

 on his way to a picnic, as there seems no other way of 

 accounting for his not eating his dinner where he found 

 it. It is supposed that some species suck the blood of 

 quadrupeds. Asilus crabroniformis (PI. XIV., fig. 5) 

 is a very handsome and conspicuous Fly, clothed all over 

 with deep golden hairs, except on the fore-half of the 

 abdomen, which is velvety black. The wings are some- 

 what golden or tawny, with dusky patches on the hind 

 margin. 



The larvae of the Asilidae live in the earth or in decayed 

 wood. 



In the Leptidae the antennas are nearly all very short, 

 being composed of three short joints (of which the last 

 is generally the greatest in circumference), and a long 

 terminal bristle usually reckoned as a fourth joint. The 



