DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 357 



feet in Leptis have three pads, as in some other pre- 

 daceous Flies already described. Leptis scolopacea 

 (PI. XIV., fig. 6) is a Fly often found in woods, lanes, 

 and gardens. It is of a somewhat slender and tapering 

 figure, and of much feebler aspect than the Asilidae. 

 The thorax is of a pale striped grey in the male, 

 yellowish in the female, the abdomen tawny-coloured, 

 with a row of black spots running down it, and the grey- 

 tipped wings are spotted and partly bordered with brown. 

 The larvae live in the earth or in decayed wood, and 

 that of one foreign species is said to catch the small 

 insects upon which it preys in pitfalls formed in the sand, 

 somewhat after the manner of the Cicindela larva. 

 Common as are instances of such instinct among the 

 larvae of other orders, it is rare to find them in the 

 Diptera, cocoon-spinning being almost the only con- 

 structive work performed by them, and that being con- 

 fined to a few families. One common species in this 

 family, Atherix ibis, a little ash-coloured (?) or tawny 

 ( $ ) Fly, spotted and banded with black, and about a 

 quarter of an inch in length, with an aquatic larva, has 

 the curious instinct to lay its eggs on branches over- 

 hanging the water, into which the larvae falls on emerg- 

 ing from the egg. 



In Bombylidae, the most conspicuous is the Bee-fly, 

 Bombylim major (PI. XV., fig. 1). This is a furry- 

 looking Fly, with a small head, wide thorax, and 

 abdomen wider still and somewhat flattened. It is 

 black, covered with bristly golden hairs above, and with 

 black and white hairs below. The wings, even when in 

 repose, are kept at full stretch, and are longitudinally 

 divided in colour, the costal half being dark brown, 

 the other clear 'and colourless. The most remarkable 



