548 



B O M B Y L 1 1 D M. 



Some circumstances mentioned by Wilson tend to 

 throw light upon the very irregular appendages ii 

 which the secondary quills of the wings of these birds 

 terminate. He remarks, that he found those feathers 

 which had not the wax-like appendages always ruggei 

 at their tips, and broken and ruffled for some part o 

 their webs, but that the ones with the appendages 

 were entire and unruffled. Thence it follows that 

 these appendages act as a protection for the more 

 delicate part of the feather, and this unusual provision 

 for the safety of that member must, according to the 

 universal law of nature, be made for the purpose oi 

 providing against an unusual exposure to injury. 



This brings us very naturally to the principal habit 

 of the birds ; that is, to the character of the plant 

 upon which they find the greater part of their food ; 

 these are, in both continents, the junipers and vacci- 

 niums, both of which, but more especially the former, 

 have the leaves very stiff, slender, and sharp pointed ; 

 and as the leaves are borne on the exterior surfaces 

 of the trees, the spiry parts of which are not easily 

 penetrated by any bird, and further, as the birds 

 have to range the surface of the spiry tree while they 

 collect this food, they are in a situation in which 

 they cannot have a very firm perch by the feet, 

 though their feet are well adapted for perching (and, 

 by the way, should, independently of other circum- 

 stances, take them out of the class of omnivorous 

 feeders). They must thus, in order to maintain their 

 stability, always have the wings ready, and in general 

 spread ; and as in this spreading the secondary quills 

 come into frequent, indeed almost constant, contact 

 with the stiff, pointed, and needle-shaped leaves of 

 the trees and bushes on which they find the berries, 

 these little "fenders," as we may call them, at the 

 end of the shafts, afford a very efficient protection to 

 the webs of the feathers. 



Thus we find, in these birds, an adaptation which 

 is peculiar among the many and wonderful adaptations 

 of which the feathered tribes afford instances. This 

 adaptation accords with the vegetation of a very 

 peculiar part of the world, whether we look to the 

 eastern continent or to America ; and therefore the 

 wax-wings acquire an importance in the eyes of the 

 student of nature to which they would not be entitled 

 in their ordinary character of handsome and finely- 

 coloured birds. 



It is this circumstance which has induced us to 

 consider them at greater length than we can, in 

 general, afford to consider a genus of which the 

 known species are so very few. But in those very 

 typical birds which connect themselves strongly with 

 localities that are fitted to the growth of only one 

 remarkable species of vegetation, there is far more in 

 the bird than a mere bird's history ; and jf we did not 

 avail ourselves of the opportunity of opening a little the 

 general history of 'nature, and showing the harmony 

 of the parts, and their connection with each other, 

 when the subject of which we are more immediately 

 treating offers itself as a key, we should feel that we 

 were failing sadly in our duty to the public. 



In our continent the wax-wings are at home only 

 in places situated far to the north ; and though, in 

 America, they range more southerly, that can be 

 easily explained from the physical differences of the 

 two countries, which carries the appropriate food of 

 the birds into regions farther to the south. So far as 

 discovery has hitherto gone, there are no birds of 

 similar structure and character in the high southern 



latitudes ; indeed, there is no vegetation adequate to 

 their maintenance. The extreme south of Africa, 

 and that of America, have more of a tropical character 

 than, reasoning from the latitude, one would be led 

 to expect ; and though, in Australia, there are some 

 families of plants, such as Lissunllic, which appear 

 to answer, in some sort, to the vacciniums of the 

 northern hemisphere, yet they are plants of different 

 character, not so productive of berries, and the berries 

 on them are not so succulent. 



BOMBYLIID^E. A family of two-winged insects 

 (Diptera) belonging to the section Tanystoma of 

 Lutreille, having for its type the genus Bombylius of 

 Linnueus, with which in fact it nearly corresponds. 

 It is characterised by the great length of the parts 

 of the mouth, which are very slender, and united into 

 a porrected proboscis. The body is thick, short, and 

 very hairy ; the head alrixed in a low position on the 

 thorax, the latter is very gibbose ; the wings are 

 horizontally extended on each side of the body, with 

 the halteies exposed ; the antennae are short, and 

 inserted near together ; they are composed of three 

 joints, of which the last is the longest, and thickened, 

 terminating obtusely. The legs are long and very 

 slender. These insects are very active, flying with 

 the greatest rapidity. They hover over flowers 

 without settling upon them, introducing their long 

 proboscis alone, in order to extract the honeyed fluid 

 which they contain, and which forms the sole food of 

 these insects. Their transformations are unknown ; 

 Latreille, however, presumes that they are parasitical 

 in the nests of other insects. The perfect insects 

 are to be met with in fine weather, and during their 

 flight they make a humming noise like that of the 

 drone flies. They delight to take their station in the 

 sunny corner of a lane or other similar place, where 

 they hover hawk-like for a great length of time 

 without moving from the spot ; on approaching them 

 they dart off and re-commence hovering at a little 

 distance. They are nearly allied to the Anthracida;. 

 The insects comprised in this family are not nume- 

 rous, they are of small or but moderate size, and are 

 for the most part exotic. The genera are Tu.rophora, 

 Xcstomyza, Apatomyza, Usin, Phf/iiria, Bombyrma, 

 Geron, Thlipsomyza, Ploas and Ci/llcnia ,- of these 

 the genera Bombylius and Phthiria are British. The 

 former has the proboscis very long, the palpi distinctly 

 visible, the second joint of the antennae very short, 

 and the third or terminal, joint long The body, 

 which is short and thick, is covered with hair, which 

 gives these insects the appearance of bees, whence 

 they have been named bee-flies. The genus corn- 

 irises seven or eight British species, of which the 

 Bombylius major of Linnaeus is one of the commonest 

 species. It is about one-third of an inch long, and 

 covered with dirty yellowish hairs ; the outer half of 

 ;he wings is dusky, the remainder hyaline. Another 

 species inappropriately named by Linmcus, Mcdhis, 

 'since it is larger than the B. major] has the wings 

 narked with small dark spots at the junction of the 

 icrves. It has been figured by Mr. Samouelle in his 

 Compendium, pi. 9, fig. 10, who has increased the 

 confusion by calling it B. major. A third species, 

 B. minor, Linnsens, is much smaller than cither of the 

 bregoing, With clear wings. The genus Phtliiria has 

 much narrower body, and shorter proboscis. The 

 ype is the Bombylius pulicarius of Mikan, figured 

 )y Mr. Curtis in the last number of his British 

 ~ntomology, for October, 1834. 



