DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA.\\ 363 



without exception, of three joints, of which the last is 

 large, nearly globular, oblong-oval, or somewhat kidney- 

 shaped (PI. XV., 4 a, Ant. of Syrphus pyrastri), and 

 bears a curved bristle, which is often beautifully feathered.. 

 The wings afford the best character, the subapical cells 

 being perfect i.e., bounded short of -the margin by a 

 transverse vein. There are also two false veins, one of 

 which is conspicuous and runs from the prebrachial into 

 the subapical cell (see fig. 22, p. 49). 



The Conopidae are a small family of prettily-coloured, 

 but rather awkwardly-formed Flies, of which the larvae 

 are parasitic in the bodies of Bees. They are rather 

 slender, generally about half an inch in length, with the 

 abdomen thickest toward the end, and curved downward. 

 The tongue is long, stiff, and projecting ; the antennae 

 are long and of singular form; three principal joints, of 

 which the second is the longest and the third the thickest, 

 are terminated by three small joints, the last and the 

 last but one forming a double joint to the antenna?. 

 The wings have the perfect subapical cell of the 

 Syrphidse, but not the false veins. There are two 

 species common Gonops quadrifasciatus, a black and 

 yellow Fly, with the abdomen not remarkably small 

 at the base, and C. nifipes (PI. XV., fig. 6), in which 

 the abdomen is, as it were, set on a stalk composed of 

 the attenuated basal joints. 



We have now arrived at the Musciclae, by far the 

 largest family, and one which, as the Lmnaean genus 

 Musca, included many of those now distributed among 

 other families. 



The reader will at once recognise some familiar insects 

 in this family, as the Housefly, the Bluebottle, the 

 chequered Blowfly, and the common yellow Dungfly. 



